inFAMOUS: The Bubble Pegasus
by Masterob
Summary: Set after the Friendship Dimensions, Derpy Hooves lands in the world of inFAMOUS, where she is saved from Reapers by Cole MacGrath, he decides to watch over her and figure out a way home for her as he attempts to rebuild Empire City, but what happens when she draws too much unwanted attention? Major Karmic moment for Cole, help the Pegasus, or ditch her?
1. The Conduit & The Mailmare

**Both know what it's like to be somewhat notorious for something.**

* * *

 _-_ Infamous Prologue _: After battling and surviving a near fatal encounter with The Beast, Cole MacGrath had gone back to the wasteland that was once Empire City, in hopes of rebuilding what was once his home._

Poor Derpy, all she wanted to do was help, or make friends, but it seemed like no matter what she did she would just screw something up. During the King Sombra invasion she was suppose to take a colt named Rumble back to Sweet Apple Acres, however she got distracted by a muffin that somehow lead her into Sombra's lair.

Due to her disobeying Twilight's orders and also endangering Rumble, she had gained the ire of Princess Twilight Sparkle, adding her to the list of ponies who didn't care for her, alongside the likes of Rainbow Dash & Rarity, and even other Ponyville Residents, like Lyra & Bon Bon.

Soon Sombra blasted Derpy into a Dimension portal and she went through for a while before landing near the ruins of a city.

"Ow, that hurt...where am I? Why is there so much rubble around? Did something blow up?"

She then caught a glimpse of the humans in the area, they seem to be rebuilding the area.

"Did King Sombra do this?"

She stayed out of sight of the humans, she wasn't too sure if they were friendly, she just simply watched and observed as they cleaned and rebuilt the lost city.

"They seem to be like ponies, except they're on two legs, and they have digits on their hooves"

She seemed really impressed so far with these creatures, she hoped they were friendly so she can go talk with them, however her fascination took a blow when she saw something horrifying, a group of other humans arrived with firearms and started shooting at the people.

"Reapers! They're back! Run!" some people shouted.

Derpy looked horrified at this, who were these creatures, why were they attacking the others?

The civilians ran away, some running past where Derpy was hiding, as the Reapers followed them, one of them noticed Derpy.

"Look" it said in an eerie voice.

The others turned and noticed Derpy as well.

"Pony..."

They started to approach her, freaking her out.

"You're starting to scare me"

They stopped a moment, "Talking...pony", they resumed going after her, which freaked her out.

"G-get away!"

They marched forward, and eventually Derpy freaked out and started flying but she tripped mid-air somehow and fell.

"How come I keep falling!" she then ran on foot with the Reapers chasing her.

As they chased her one got blasted with lightning, the other reapers looked and saw a great enemy of theirs.

It was the Conduit hero, Cole MacGrath.

"I thought you bastards died when the city did"

The Reapers shot Cole but he put up his Polarity Wall to stop the bullets then did a shockwave to knock them off balance, then he ran in and punched a few of them and even used his amp to take a few out.

A group of them got together to start shooting him but he sent out his Megawatt Hammer to blast them, and finished everything by bringing a lightning bolt down from the sky, taking out the reapers, killing most of them.

Cole wiped his head, "Probably went overboard with the lightning, don't wanna drain myself, not too many generators yet"

He approached one Reaper and used his powers to read it's mind, hoping to get some info about what they were up to, then he noticed some peculiar, the image of Derpy.

"Whoa, was that a Pegasus? It talked too, this just keeps getting weirder, from the looks of it she didn't want to be captured by them, so she took off, but where? Only one way to find out"

Cole then used his senses to look for the traces of her echos.

"I can sense the echos of her running away, if I follow them I can find her"

He followed the echos across the area, from the looks of things she didn't go too far, he checked the remains of an alley and looked around.

"Pegasus!? Where are you? Come out!"

He continued to look around, but no luck.

"Damn, where'd she go? The echos stop here", he deiced to check the garbage cans, mostly trash, not a lot though.

He then checked the dumpster and found her.

"There you are"

"Ah! Get away!" she then flew out the dumpster and started getting away.

"Aw dammit! Hey come back! I'm not gonna hurt you!" he continued to chase her as she flew away.

Luckily not a lot of the buildings were rebuilt, most still under construction so it was easier to keep track of her, he then noticed her head low, then he heard a faint sound of a crash.

"Sounds like that hurt" he continued on til he reached the area of her crash.

He saw that she landed on a bunch of garbage cans.

"Uh...you alright there?"

She saw him and attempted to fly off again but she lost her balance and fell, then she started weeping a bit.

"Why do I keep screwing up!"

Cole slowly approached her, she noticed him and tried to crawl away but he got in front of her, "Hey take it easy, I'm not gonna hurt you, I'm not one of them!"

Derpy panted and continued to weep a bit.

Cole started to pity the creature, so he bent down to her, "Hey, don't cry, you're gonna be safe, I promise you"

She looked at him, very nervous, tears still in her eyes.

Cole got a good look at her wall eyes, he figured that's the reason she might be a bit clumsy, but he also noticed she was really scared, he took pity on her.

"Hey, I know you're probably scared, but you gotta trust me, I won't hurt you and I won't let anything happen to you"

Derpy wiped the tears from her eyes, "But what about those things? They tried to capture me"

"Don't worry about them, I took care of them, but they have more friends, if you don't want to run into them, you need to come with me"

Derpy nodded, "Ok Mister"

Cole helped her up, "You need to stay close to me, and if I tell you to hide, you need to be quick about it, these guys are ruthless, if we run into them, you have to let me do the fighting"

Derpy nodded.

"Good, lets go"

Both of them walked off, with Cole keeping an eye out for more Reapers, Derpy doing her best to stay close to him, at one point she though she heard something and immediately ran to his arms as he held his hand out like if he was gonna attack, but saw that it was only a rat.

"Wow, that sucker's big", he noticed Derpy trembling from fear, "Relax, it's only a rat...unless you're scared of rats, that's understandable too"

Derpy just hugged him tightly, so he decided it's best if she stays in his arms as he continued to his pad.

He managed to get there with no issues, no Reapers showed up to bug him and he noticed his friend Zeke roasting hotdogs over an open fire.

"Hey Cole, got some dogs here, I even got some buns, hope you like campfire style wieners".

"Sounds good to me", Cole said.

Zeke noticed Derpy in his arms, "Uh what's that? Some stuffed toy you got from a fan?"

Cole shook his head, "No...she isn't a toy"

Derpy turned around and looked at Zeke, he noticed her eyes.

"What is she? Some experiment gone wrong? I mean look at her eyes"

That comment caused Derpy to start weeping, "I can't help it if my eyes are like this!"

Cole hugged her to calm her down, "Dammit Zeke!"

"Well how was I supposed to know she would understand me? I didn't even know she could talk, that's actually weirder than her eyes"

Derpy cried some more, which annoyed Cole.

"Zeke, you're making things worse! Stop talking about her eyes!"

Zeke decided to zip his lip while Cole comforted Derpy.

"Hey take it easy, your eyes are fine, they're actually really...pretty", Cole saying the last part reluctantly, not that her eyes weren't pretty, he just hated saying that, but he needed to make her feel better.

Derpy looked up at him, "Really? You think my eyes are pretty?"

Cole gave a nervous smile, "Yeah...I did"

Derpy blushed a bit, "You're really nice mister"

"You can just call me Cole, what's your name?"

"My name...is Derpy"

Zeke was gonna say something but Cole's glare shut him up before he said anything.

"That's a...really nice name", Cole said, somewhat meaning it.

Derpy held her stomach.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Cole asked.

"No, just hungry", Derpy replied.

"Oh, well you can stay an I'll go get you something to eat, what would you like?"

"Are there muffins?"

"Uh muffins? Yeah there are, any flavor you'd like?"

"I like lemon flavor"

"Lemon flavor? I think I can find you one, I can't promise it though"

"You can get me any muffin, I would just prefer lemon"

Cole nodded, "I'll see what I can do, in the meantime you stay here with my friend Zeke"

Derpy gave him a dirty glare, "I don't like him, he's mean!"

"Hey!" Zeke protested.

"I know he said that stuff about your eyes but he won't say it anymore, he's sorry for the stuff he said, right Zeke?"

Zeke groaned a bit, "Yeah I am, I'm so sorry"

Cole looked annoyed, "Cool your attitude Zeke"

Zeke crossed his arms and looked away.

Derpy pondered a bit, "Fine, I'll stay, but hurry back please"

"I take it you're really hungry?"

Derpy shook her head, "No...I just feel safer around you"

Cole looked surprised, "Really? You just met me though"

"Yeah, but you were nice to me, and I just felt safe near you, so please hurry"

Cole nodded, "Ok, I'll come back, and if he says anything, let me know, I'll deal with him", Cole said.

Derpy nodded as Cole walked off.

" _Man, a Pegasus, just when I think I've seen it all this happens, having her around could be a liability, the Reapers probably want her and she will probably cause more unwanted attention, but I can't just abandon her, she won't survive on her own, not to mention she now seems dependent on me, I just can't abandon someone who needs me, even if it is a Pegasus Pony, besides I hate to say it, but she's kinda cute"_

He walked to find a place that sells food, he had a Pegasus to take care of now, question is how to pull that off.

* * *

 **Cole's seen strange things, though Derpy is a whole other level, how will he cope with living with a Pegasus? And what happens when The Reapers come back?**


	2. Chat Time with Derpy & Cole

**Hopefully Empire City will bring in a fresh supply of Muffins.**

* * *

Cole made his way back to the campsite area with the muffins.

"I gotta admit, it's kinda funny that I see a Pegasus Pony, and she seems to like muffins, I expected her to eat something different, like stuff a horse would eat, but I guess it's no big deal"

He approached the site where Derpy was eagerly awaiting his return.

"Hey Derpy, I got your muffin", Cole said, bring out the muffin.

"Yay!" Derpy flew to him and took the muffin.

"They didn't have lemon, I got you blueberries, hope that's good enough"

Derpy muched the muffin, "It's fine, thank you Cole, you're the best" she then hugged him.

"No prob, so was Zeke nice to you?"

"He kept looking at me funny"

"Hey I've never seen a Pegasus before, so pardon me for being curious", Zeke protested.

"Easy now, so Derpy, mind telling us about you? Where are you from? How did you get here?"

She munched her muffin a bit more, "Well I come from a place called Equestria, and nice town called Ponyville, where I'm the local Mailmare, I deliver letters to other ponies"

"I had a job like that once, only I just delivered packages", Cole said.

"Wasn't it fun? I liked it cause I got to meet different ponies", Derpy said.

"Eh, could have been better, they barely paid me", Cole said.

"Well I don't mind the money, I just like seeing ponies, even if they don't like me much"

Cole was curious, "Why not?"

"Well I have a tendancy to be clumsy, it's annoyed a lot of ponies, at first they didn't mind, some said it's cute, then lately it only seemed to annoy them, it got to the point where nopony wanted to be near me"

"Wow, sorry to hear that"

"Well it's not so bad, I still had some friends who liked me, there's my best friend Golden Harvest, she's always nice to me and she really cares about me, she even gives me carrots from her garden"

"Carrots are good for your eyes", Zeke just stated, earning a glare from Derpy and Cole, "Sorry, just stating a fact"

"Anyway she likes giving me carrots cause she wants me to be healthy, saying I can't eat muffins 24/7"

"She's right, you gotta keep healthy"

"Well then there's my friend who I like to call 'The Doctor', he acts like one sometimes"

"Sounds cool", Cole said.

"Does he examine your eyes?" Zeke asked, earning another glare.

"Stop talking about my eyes!" Derpy shouted, causing Zeke to back off.

"Seriously Zeke, don't upset her", Cole said.

"I was just asking, sheesh", Zeke said.

"Anyway...then there's little Dinky, I love spending time with her, she's almost like a daughter to me, and I'm like a mom to her, she sometimes nicknames me 'mommy', it's so adorable"

"Wow, didn't expect anyone to call you their mommy", Zeke said.

Derpy growled and pointed to Zeke while glaring, "Look you-"

Cole got in the middle, "Come on, no fighting, Zeke please just don't say anything, it comes out wrong"

"Hey it's only cause she looks so young, she don't look like a mom", Zeke explained.

"Anyway they're the only friends I have, the only ones that care about me", Derpy signed, "I hope I can see them again soon".

"We'll help you get home, though I do feel for you, I've also had issues with people hating me for a mistake I once made"

"Really? What happened?"

"Let's just say I made a huge mess of things, and it took a while for people to start liking me again"

"We'll at least they like you, I like you too" Derpy gave Cold a big smile.

Cole chuckled a bit, "I gotta admit, you're pretty cute when you smile, make sure you stay smiling"

Derpy blushed a bit, "Thanks Cole, you're really nice"

"So do you mind telling me how you got here?" Cole asked.

"Well there was this evil King named Sombra, he wanted to take over Equestria, so he created a dark and evil shadow, so some pretty ponies went to fight him and I needed to go to the safe house in a farm with some little filly, but then I got distracted by a muffin and I somehow ended up in King Sombra's lair, then the other ponies got mad at me and I got blasted into a portal, right after the Princess called me useless", Derpy's ears drooped.

Cole think he understood what happened, "What about the filly, what happened to her?"

"Not sure, I hope she's not hurt"

"We'll maybe The Princess kept her safe"

"I hope so, but still, they seem pretty mad, I'm almost not sure if I even wanna go home"

"Don't let them scare you away, but like I said you're more than welcome to stay here"

"Thanks, maybe I can bring my friends here and start over"

"Trust me here isn't that much better, like I said when I screwed up it took forever for them to forgive and move on, sometimes we humans can be judgmental creatures"

"Well at least they forgave you, but it's fine, as long as you like me, cause I like you, you saved me from those Reaper guys, though how did we lose them?"

"I fought them actually"

Derpy looked surprised, "Wow really? How? Do you know karate?"

"No, I can just do this", Cole then shot some electricity from his hands, causing Derpy to be shocked.

"Holy wow! How'd you do that?" Derpy asked.

"Lets just say these powers are a gift, I'm a conduit, and I am able to do these things, I can shoot electricity in various ways, I have a lot of attacks I can do, though I have to be careful, if I use them too much I can feel tired, so I gotta always stay near electricity, if I'm near a place that has electricity I can drain it".

Derpy looked surprised but excited, "You are officially the coolest person I've ever met! Wow a real life Super Hero, like in the Power Pony comics!"

Cole scratched his head, "The what now?"

"Power Ponies, a comic series where I'm from"

"Wow, you have comics in your world? That sounds pretty righteous", Zeke said.

"Well I wouldn't say Super Hero though, a super hero saves everyone, I've let too many people die cause I wasn't strong enough or quick enough at times"

"Oh...well at least you try, besides...", Derpy flew to Cole and hugged him, "You're my hero"

Cole hesitated but then hugged her back, he felt strange, not many people have been this affectionate to him, especially after what happened with Trish, yet this girl, who wasn't even human was hugging him, she looked up to him, one one hand Cole felt happiness, but that also led to worry, what if one day Cole isn't quick enough to save her? What If he lets her down, that's just another potential pain in his future.

Should he even accept responsibility for her, from the sounds of it, she seemed to be a real klutz and could be a major liability, not to mention the main reason for her banishment was due to her foolishly following a muffin, even endangering a young foal.

On the other hand, she's very sweet and she's one of the few to really care for him despite just meeting him, a fresh slate if you will, not to mention her innocence makes it hard to abandon her, maybe her klutzy nature just further drives Cole to wanna protect her.

Cole rubbed his head, he was getting one of those headaches, it seems like he always has to make some choice for good or bad, he usually choose good, despite how tempting bad was, not to mention, he isn't always some goody two shoes with people, if you give him a reason to, he will strike you down.

Cole sighed and looked down on Derpy, "You're really something, now we're gonna have to make a few arrangements for you, like where you'll sleep"

"I can sleep on a cloud"

Cole raised his eyebrow, "How?"

"All Pegusai can walk, move and sleep on clouds, it's a trait we all share, we can even control rain and weather"

Cole looked surprised, "Wow, that's cool, maybe if you can use that to your advantage, you can be my sidekick one day"

Derpy squealed in excitement, "A sidekick! That's so cool! then I can learn kung fu, HI-YA!" Derpy kicked a table down, breaking it, "Oops, sorry Cole"

Cole waved it off, "No big deal"

"No big deal!? That table was finely crafted, then she breaks it like-", Zeke stopped when he saw Derpy tear up a bit and Cole glare at him, "Nevermind"

Cole comforted Derpy, "Don't worry, we can get another, it's no big deal, everyone makes mistakes, no one's perfect"

Derpy nodded, "Ok Cole"

"Now, later I'm gonna grab us some dinner, would you like anything?"

"Another muffin?" Derpy gave a hopeful smile.

"You can't just eat muffins, you gotta eat other foods"

"Aw..."

"I'll figure it out, though question, do you eat meat?"

Derpy shook her head, "No, no meats"

"Figures, well there's other things, I'll find something, now I'm gonna go check on the city to see if I can help with the rebuilding, you stay here and-"

"No, don't leave again, I feel safer with you"

"I know but Zeke's here and-"

"I don't feel safe with him, if Reapers came he'd probably run away like a chicken"

"Hey! Who you calling a chicken!?" Zeke asked.

"Look Derpy-"

"Please let me come, I'll hide if I need to but I just wanna be with you", she hugged him again, "I'm still kinda worried"

Cole sighed, "Fine, but stay in the skies, hide behind clouds if you need to, just be careful, I don't want you getting hurt"

"Yay! Lets go!" she pulled Cole on, Zeke scratched his head, "That girl's weird"

As they walked, Cole thought of something, "Uh embarrassing question probably but...why do you have bubbles on your backside? Not that I was looking it just caught my eye"

Derpy giggled, "Naughty boy", she giggled more as he looked away, "Just kidding you silly, anyway it's my Cutie Mark, it shows my special talents, or my personality, most ponies say I have a bubbly personality"

"Yeah, you sure do"

As they walked Cole noticed a complete building, well sorta, just had walls, "Follow me"

Cole then climbed the building effortlessly as Derpy followed him.

"Wow you're a great climber", Derpy said.

"Years of practice", Cole said.

They reached the top and looked over the city under construction.

"Great sight, ain't it?" Cole asked.

"Yeah, you can see so far, even over the edge everyone looks like ants...oh be careful don't fall"

"Relax, my powers allow me to live from a fall this high, as long as I land properly"

"Wow, that makes you more cool"

"Wanna see something else cool?" Cole then jumped off the building and used his Static Thrusters to glide through the air.

"Wow! You're flying! She followed him"

"Yeah, well sorta, I can't go up, only down, but it's still nice"

"Maybe you'll get strong one day and be able to fly", Derpy said.

"Yeah, maybe", Cole said.

The two continued to explore Empire City, unaware of the evils that soon await them, as a woman observes from afar.

"So, you have a new playmate huh Cole? Well I guess I'll have to extend her an invite to my little party", she let out an evil laugh as she let out some aura of her power, with a few Reapers surrounding her.

* * *

 **We're getting a villain soon, Derpy needs to beware.**

 **(FYI, in case you don't know, the "filly" Derpy is referring to is Rumble, she just mistakes him for a filly due to his face, little humor).**


	3. Checking the City

**Cole better warn Derpy about the dangers of Tar**

* * *

After showing Derpy the city, Cole noticed she was starting to get tired, so he took her back to the pad so he can feed her and let her sleep.

"Here you go Derpy", Cole gave her some soup.

"Aw, no muffin?"

"Like I said, you can't keep eating muffins, this soup is healthy"

Derpy looked unhappy but she dealt with it and ate.

"After that get ready for bed, you look pretty tired"

Derpy nodded and ate up, later Cole put out a mattress for Derpy.

"There you go, sleep tight", Cole put a blanket over Derpy as she climbed in the mattress.

"Will you watch over me, so no more bad people come?" Derpy asked.

"Of course, I'll keep an eye out for you", Cole gave her an honest smile.

Derpy smiled, "Ok, good night", she plopped down and fell asleep.

Cole chuckled a bit, Zeke then spoke, "Hey Cole, you sure this is a good idea? If Reapers found out that's gonna make us more of a target"

"I'm aware of this Zeke, but I just can't sit back and allow her to be at the mercy of those Reapers", Cole said.

"Is she worth it?" Zeke asked.

"Zeke, you're being really selfish right now", Cole said.

"I just want you to be careful, remember you may even endanger her", Zeke said.

Cole groaned, "I got this, the poor girl's lost in a world she doesn't know, someone's gotta watch over here, and I'm the guy to do so, with any luck we can get her home soon, but until then I'm gonna watch her, otherwise I'll feel a sense of guilt, and that's a feeling I'm getting tired of, I have a chance to redeem myself by finally being able to protect something, I mean after everything with Trish & all of Empire City, I can finally do things right"

"Whatever man, I'm gonna catch some Zs", Zeke said as he went to bed.

Cole simply sat and reflected, before drifting off himself.

The next day Cole woke with and saw Derpy staring and smiling at him.

"Good morning Cole"

Cole rubbed his eyes, "Hey Derpy", he looked around and saw Zeke wasn't there, "Where'd Zeke go?"

"He left to find breakfast", Derpy said.

"Good, hope he doesn't get anything stupid though"

Derpy sat next to Cole and smiled at him, sorta weirding him out.

"Uh Derpy? Why are you smiling like that?"

"Cause you're my friend, and you're nice to me, nicer than the other ponies, and that Zeke guy"

"Did he say anything bad to you this morning?"

"Well he did call me 'Little Horsey Thing', would it kill him to address me by my name? I'm not a thing", Derpy pouted.

"Don't worry about him, he's like that", Cole sat up, "Well I better check on some things as well"

Derpy grabbed his arm, "What about me? I don't wanna be by myself"

Cole pondered a moment, leaving her alone would be dangerous, "Ok when Zeke comes back-"

"I don't wanna stay with him either, he's a meanie!"

Cole raised his eyebrow and spoke, "This is gonna be difficult, ok we'll do like yesterday, stay out of sight, when I say fly up, do so"

Derpy nodded, "Ok Cole"

Cole and Derpy hit the town, they made sure to get to the rooftops and stay out of sight.

"So what are we doing?" Derpy asked.

"I see if there's a way to help these people, be it get them supplies, medicine, or protect them from Reapers", Cole said.

"Cool", Derpy said.

They looked from above and saw some people working on buildings, none of them looked like they really needed help, eventually a truck pulled up full of food for the workers down below.

At that moment, a group of Reapers showed up and shot the place up.

"Oh no! It's them!"

"Bastards, stay here, I'm gonna take them out!" Cole then jumped off the building and hit a Thunder Drop, knocking them all back, then Cole ran in and punched each of them and blasted a few others.

Though they fired back, they couldn't take Cole down and he managed to defeat each of them within a couple of minutes.

"Yay Cole!" Derpy cheered.

One crawled to a gun and tried to shoot Cole but he blasted away the gun and used his powers to tied the reaper down.

"Be happy I don't drain your energy you bastard"

The people around praised Cole, he waved to them, "Be careful around here, see if you can get some guards just in case"

"We will, thanks Cole" a civilian said.

Cole climbed back up the roof as police came to arrest the Reapers.

Cole got back on the roof and Derpy hugged him, "You were so great!"

"Thanks, all in a day's work, lets go patrol the rest of the city", Cole said.

They checked around Empire City, on occasion Cole would help find Medical Supplies with Derpy secretly helping by keeping an eye out for Reapers, and Cole also delivered some food to people, he also used his electricity to charge up some tools for construction, Cole even at one point escorted a few Reapers to a police establishment.

"Wow, he's a hero not just in crime fighting, but helping those who need it", Derpy analyzed.

Cole had just finished an area and walked to see if more was needed, once nothing was there he started climbing but noticed a Reaper run through a dark alley.

Cole looked to Derpy and gestured her to wait where she was, he went to check on the Reaper.

He kept out of sight as he followed the Reaper through the rooftops and looked down below to see the Reaper talking with others, Cole got down far enough to make out the words, "Pegasus...Electric Man...Sasha..."

Cole looked shocked, Sasha, his ex-girlfriend and the Leader of The Reapers, looks like she was back in town, and she probably knows about Derpy.

"Damn, Derpy's gonna be in danger, I need to-" he the saw a bullet fly by, one of the Reapers had noticed him and shot, the others following suit.

Cole threw a Shock Grenade down there to distract them as well as take out a few with the explosion and then went down there to beat the Reapers down.

He grabbed one and said to it, "Tell your leader to stay the hell awar from The Pegasus, if you go anywhere near her, I swear I'll hunt down and kill each and every one of you bastards!"

Cole then punched the Reaper for good measure and walked off, he went to find Derpy and saw her waiting at the rooftop, he climbed up quickly.

"Is everything ok?" Derpy asked.

"Come on, I need to let you in on something", Cole gestured for Derpy to follow him, which she did.

When they got back to the pad, Zeke was waiting, "Hey Cole what took ya? I got some grub!"

"Not now Zeke, we have an issue, it's Sasha"

"Your old flame? She's around here? Haven't seen her since the days of Kessler", Zeke said.

"Well she's back, and she probably knows about Derpy", Cole said.

Derpy looked worried, "What's going on Cole?" she asked.

Cole turned to Derpy, "Sasha, my ex-girlfriend, is the leader of the Reapers, she's been jealous since we broke up and has stalked me a lot, especially after I got my powers, she also has powers too which makes her incredibly dangerous, now if she knows about you she's gonna target you, so I need you to ABSOLUTLEY make sure not to leave my side, she's very dangerous and she will kill you just to get to me"

Derpy looked scared, "She sounds scary"

Cole nodded, "She is, so I'm gonna promise you that I won't leave your side like you wanted, but you have to give me that same promise"

Derpy nodded and hugged Cole, "Ok, I won't leave your side, cause you're a great hero and I know you'll protect me, like you did when you first met me...yesterday"

Cole chuckled, "That's my pony"

Zeke rolled his eyes, "I hope this doesn't come back to bite us"

Derpy glared, "I really don't like you"

Zeke glared back, "Well I don't like you either, so ha!"

"Why you!"

"Enough both of you!" Cole said.

Derpy sat down and crossed her arms and did an angry scrunchy face, Cole sighed, "Man this is gonna be a pain, but I owe it to do my best as a hero, it's what Trish would want me to do"

As the days past, there has yet to be any sign of Sasha, though there were a few Reaper attacks.

The Citizens had came together and made a nice little indoor place for Cole to stay, figuring that a hero should live better.

"Man the perks of being a hero, kinda small place though, looks like a typical apartment", Zeke said.

"Zeke, these people were nice enough to make this place for us to stay, lets not take their kindness for granted", Cole said.

"That sounds like something Fluttershy would say", Derpy said.

"Who?" Cole asked.

"Fluttershy, one of The Elements of Harmony, she represents Kindness, she's nice to everypony, even me, though sometimes I think I freak her out cause of my eyes"

"Kinda shallow, but the Elements of Harmony? That's something I haven't heard of"

"They're the most powerful ponies in my world, they use the Magic of Friendship to help others, there's 6, Fluttershy was one, then there's Pinkie Pie, who represents laughter, she's also pretty nice to me sometimes, she invites me to parties, though if I break or mess something up she gets a little annoyed, then there's Applejack, who represents Honestly, she's been pretty honest about me sometimes, not always in a good way, then there's Rarity, the Element of Generosity, she also loves fashion and hates when I get dirt on one of her designs, then there's Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty, she's usually mean to me though, she's kinda mean to everyone but she seems to get really frustrated at me, and finally there's Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic, she used to be nice to me, then she got mad at me right before I ended up in this world", Derpy said.

Cole looked impressed, "Wow, quite the world, those these 'Elements of Harmony' don't seem all Harmonized with you, I thought they would accept all creatures"

"Yeah, but I do mess up a lot, and I'm clumsy, I don't blame them for hating me", Derpy said.

"Kid, no one should be hated for messing up, everyone messes up something, sometimes people wanna hate on that, the more they hate and the less they help, it just allows it to keep happening, cause they're not doing their part to help them not make those mistakes", Cole said, the pointed to Zeke, "Take Zeke there, he screws up a lot, and I often have to bail him out, but instead of hating him, I try to help him not repeat that mistake, despite all the bad mistakes me made", he eyed Zeke, "And I mean REALLY bad", Zeke looked away and Cole turned back to Derpy, "It's my job a his friend to help him, so these girls say they use Friendship to help, doesn't sound like they're being much help honestly", Cole said.

Derpy nodded, "I guess"

Cole looked into her eyes, "So I'm gonna do what they should be doing, I'm gonna help you not make mistakes, I'm gonna be your friend"

Derpy nodded and smiled, "Ok", she hugged him, "I love you Cole, you're my best friend...don't tell Golden Harvest I said that"

Cole chuckled, "I won't"

The group then renovated their apartment to look more homey, no citizen knew yet about Derpy, the Apartment would help keep that secret, then it was time for bed.

Cole laid down in his bed, when Derpy approached, "So where should I sleep?"

"I think there's a mattress around, I can go pull it out and-" he noticed Derpy get on his bed, "Mind if I just sleep here? I can sleep at the foot, I'll feel safer if I'm closer to you"

Cole figured it's no big deal, "Alright, no problem, good night Derpy"

Derpy nodded, "Good night Cole

They both drifted to sleep, but meanwhile Sasha was planning a deadly strike.

"Soon Cole, I will have you again, and the Pegasus will not be so lucky", she let out an evil laugh.

* * *

 **Sasha loves playing mind games, who knows what happens when she tries to get into Derpy's head.**


	4. Reaper Assault

**I don't think Derpy's ever heard voices in her head, til now**

* * *

The next morning Cole woke up, he noticed that Derpy was still sleeping, she looked really relaxed.

Cole carefully got up and got ready for the day.

He ate up and grabbed his amp, Zeke approached him.

"Hey Cole, off for some patrols?"

"Sorta, I still need to find out what the Reapers were up to, Derpy's in danger"

"You really care about that Pegasus, almost as much as you cared about Trish"

Cole winced at the name of his old girlfriend, it's always been a touchy subject for him.

"I'm just doing what I feel is right Zeke, besides there's just something about her, she comes from a place where friendship is almost like a religion, or a lifeforce, maybe it's rubbing off on me"

"It hasn't rubbed off on me", Zeke said.

Cole gave him a deadpanned look, "That's because you have natural paranoia"

Zeke raised his eyebrow, "Say what?"

"You always talk about conspiracy theories, remember Moya?"

"Who I was right about" Zeke pointed out in a matter-of-fact way.

Cole looked annoyed, "Right...anyway I'm gonna check on the city, Derpy is still asleep, when she wakes up please don't annoy her, you seem to agitate her sometimes, just keep your space"

"Fine, I'll be good", Zeke said in an almost sarcastic tone.

Cole left the place to search around, so far so good, just people working hard, with each passing day the city looked more and more improved.

As he walked, he saw a strange poster, once he examined it he saw that it looked like a drawing of Derpy, then he noticed the Reaper logo in the corner.

"Damn, they're definitely after her", Cole said.

Thankfully none of the civilians through much of a pic, just thinking it's just some random art.

As Cole searched around, a Reaper on a rooftop shot at him, luckily the shots missed and Cole reacted Quickly by using his Precision attack to hit the reaper with an electric headshot.

More Reapers came but Cole simply blasted them back and whacked a few of them with his amp before restraining them to the ground for them to be taken away by the authorities.

"I gotta find Sasha, maybe that will get rid of the Reapers, plus keep Derpy safe"

He continued to search around a bit, noticing more and more posters, then he saw a reaper put up a poster and he approached him.

"Hey you! Hold it!" Cole shouted.

The Reaper saw Cole and shot at him but Cole rolled out the way and blasted the Reaper down.

"Who's sending you to do this!? Is it Sasha!? What does she want with that Pegasus!?" Cole asked.

The Reaper backed off a little before Cole pressed his foot in his chest, "Answer the question, or you're not gonna live to see tomorrow", he charged his hand with a little electricity.

Later on, Derpy had woken up and went to the living room where she saw Zeke watching TV, munching on some snacks.

"Morning there, if you're looking for Cole, he's not here, he went out to help the town"

"Oh...when will he be back?"

Zeke kept munching, "Didn't say, why don't you just sit down and watch a little TV to pass the time, here have some candy", he poured some candy in a bowl and gave it to Derpy.

"Thanks Zeke", she started munching.

Cole arrived in the building, full of concern, "Derpy, you're awake, good"

"Hi Cole, happy to see you", Derpy said with her usual cheer.

"I know, and I'm always happy to see you, but we have an issue, I just spoke to a Reaper"

Derpy gapsed, "One of those scary people!?"

Zeke looked curious, "You got one to talk? That's impressive"

"I meant business, anyway Derpy you're in danger, The Reapers wanna take you to their leader"

Derpy looked scared, "Oh no, what do I do?"

"Well for not you can't follow me outside anymore, not even if you keep your distance, if these bastards spot you then there's gonna be trouble, so you HAVE to stay here, I gotta go out there and take out every single bastard Reaper and make sure they stay the hell away from you, plus I don't want these morons ruining this city again, this place is getting a second chance, I won't let these Reapers ruin that!" Cole said.

"But I like spending time with you", Derpy said.

"I know, but these Reapers are dangerous, especially The Conduit ones"

Derpy looked curious, "The Conduit ones?"

"Yeah, some of the Reapers have powers, not as strong as mine but some of them have powers like a conduit, their leader Sasha is also a Conduit"

Derpy looked scared, "Sounds dangerous...but I'm not sure if you should go out there, don't you have any super powered allies?"

"None in Empire City, there were some in New Marais but that doesn't matter, I can handle The Reapers, I've done it before, I'll do it again"

Derpy looked concerned, "I wish I was a Conduit, so I can help you...just please be careful, if you die, I'm gonna be really, really sad"

Cole noticed the tears forming in her eyes, they met only a few days ago but their bond has really grown strong in that time, Cole wiped away a tear, "Hey I survived so far, hell I should be dead right now, but I'm not, so I can survive just about anything"

Derpy nodded, "Ok Cole"

Cole left the house, "Zeke, keep an eye on her, keep her safe, don't let her leave this house for anything!"

Zeke nodded, "I got it"

Cole nodded and left, Derpy grew concerned.

"Why can't I be there for him?"

"Cole's just worried, he cares about you probably as much as he cares about his old girlfriend", Zeke said.

"What happened to his girlfriend?" Derpy asked.

"That's something only Cole can answer", Zeke said.

Derpy sighed, "I wish I can help, I tried helping when my Country was in danger, I tried stopping a monster called Tirek...though that didn't work out too well, but everyone else failed too"

"Just let him handle it", Zeke said.

Cole went outside and looked around, keeping an eye out for Reapers and making sure nothing strange was happening, he did his usual patrols and assistance of the civilians, whom all love and appreciate Cole.

"So far so good, gotta keep an eye out"

As he walked he noticed a Reaper in an alley, doing something suspicious.

"Hey you, what the hell are you doing!?"

The Reaper turned around and tossed some tar in his face, "Aw, dammit!"

Then Cole heard a voice in his head.

"Cole, it's been a while...I've really missed you, why don't you ever call?"

Cole growled, "Get out of my head Sasha!"

"You know you want me Cole, just like I want you, you're a better man than Kessler, you're my man"

"I am NOT your man!"

Sasha let out an evil laugh, "Don't bother resisting, soon you will be mine, and that Pegasus will not keep us separated"

"You stay the hell away from Derpy! I'll kill you if you go near her!" Cole charged his hands with electricity.

"Why fight this, soon she'll hate you, just like everyone else, but I'll love you, I'll always love you", Sasha continued to taunt.

"Get out of my God Damn head!" he started shooting electricity around.

"Don't worry, I will, you need to focus after all", Sasha said.

Cole snapped out of it, "Focus on wh-" he was knocked back with a blast.

He looked up and saw a Reaper Conduit.

"Figured you bastards would show up sooner or later"

Cole got up and blasted the Reaper but it teleported away and tried blasting again but Cole rolled to the side and shot it down, Cole was used to these Conduits and they were weaker than most, compared to the Trash Men & First Son Conduits.

However two more showed up, alone they're almost no problem, in groups they can really cause an annoyance.

Cole was able to handle them by dodging their attacks and blasting them with Mega Watt hammers.

Cole then turned to see several Reapers coming, so he summoned a Lightning Strike to take them down, but it drained him of some energy.

Cole retreated a little to find a place to recharge, but more Reapers arrived and shot at him.

Fortunately for Cole some civilians arrived and tossed objects at the Reapers in an effort to help, even some policemen arrived to help.

"Times like this I'm glad to be on The Public's good side", Cole stated, then shouted, "Any place I can absorb some electricity!?"

Some on the civilians pointed to a generator, Cole went to it but a Reaper Conduit teleported in front on him and shock waved Cole back and shot at him with it's machine gun.

Soon Zeke arrived, "Hey Cole! Need a little help!?" he started shooting at the Reapers.

"Zeke? Glad you're here, is Derpy secure!?"

"Yeah, she's fine, I locked the doors", Zeke then shot at the Reapers, Cole took down The Conduit Reaper.

While fighting the Reapers, Sasha appeared on a ledge of an unfinished building.

"Cole...you will be mine", she used her powers to attack the people in the town, Cole noticed and saw Sasha, "What the hell are you doing!? You're hurting innocent people!"

"They don't appreciate you, they only want you for your powers, that's not real love and affection"

Cole attempted to blast her but she moved quickly out the way and sent some attacks to Cole, knocking him back.

"I'm gonna make you love me, even if I have to be a little tough, but you know what they say, love hurts"

Zeke shot her but it didn't do much, she simply knocked him back, "This doesn't concern you!"

Cole shot some Mega Watts and Shock Grenades, but he was starting to run low on juice and started getting exhausted.

Sasha did an evil laugh, "You're mine Cole"

At that moment Derpy arrived and rammed into Sasha, "Stay away from him!"

Sasha turned angrily to Derpy, "How dare you!" she knocked Derpy back, Cole used the distraction and the anger of Derpy getting hurt to his advantage and blasted Sasha a few times, "NEVER HURT HER!"

Sasha got up and wrapped some tar substance around Cole and squeezed.

"I will have you! You will love me!"

Derpy looked at the situation, Cole was in danger, she had to do something, but what?

Zeke turned to her, "He needs some power to drain! Find a Generator!"

Derpy looked around then asked, "Wait, any electricity will do?"

"Yeah!"

"Good!" she flew to the sky and grabbed a Cloud and brought it down.

"Wait, how'd she grab a cloud? That doesn't make any sense", Zeke asked.

Derpy then hit the cloud so Lightning would strike Cole, giving him the energy to break free from Sasha and blast her back and shoot some strong blasts, Sasha decided to retreat for now.

"I'll back Cole! You will love me!" she left the area.

Derpy approached Cole to help him, but some tar splattered into her face.

"Ew, gross", then she heard a voice in her head.

"You can't have him! He's mine, I will not let you steal him from me!"

Derpy held her head, "Get out of my head!"

"You're in way over your pretty little head you impudent Pegasus, don't play a game you have no chance of winning"

"Get out!" Derpy shouted.

Cole grabbed Derpy's head and held his against her's, "I am warning you Sasha, stay the hell away from Derpy! This is between you and me!"

"And it will remain like that, one I get rid of this little nuisance", Sasha said.

"Don't you DARE hurt her! I will kill you and each of your followers!" Cole threatened.

All they heard was her taunting laugh as it faded away.

Derpy shook her head, "That girl is scary"

"Tell me about it, and I used to date her"

"Wow, extra scary, she's like a creepy ex"

"She's the definition of a creepy ex"

Both chuckled.

"But Derpy, why are you here? You were supposed to stay put", Cole said.

"I was worried, I told you I would be really sad if you died, I don't want you to die", Derpy said.

"But it was dangerous, you can't just-"

"You're my friend Cole, friends help each other, besides you helped me when I really needed it, so now I help you when you needed it"

Cole sighed and smiled, "I guess, well it's a good thing you did, you really helped me back there, between ramming Sasha and somehow getting electricity from a cloud, maybe you can help me more, be my sidekick"

Derpy grinned, "I would love that! Especially since I get to be near you", Derpy said, she then kissed his cheek, "I really like you Cole", she had a blush when she said that.

Cole looked confused at that, but wouldn't question it, but then he noticed people forming around, confused about Derpy, so Cole spoke up.

"Listen everyone, I can see that you've noticed my friend here, no point in hiding it so I am going to make a confession, the last few days I've been harboring this Pegasus with me, I never told anyone because I feared for her safety, I know it's not easy to accept things we don't quite understand, I know first hand how that can feel, and not from a good end...but she just saved all our lives by doing what she did, standing up to Sasha & helping me get my energy back, now where she came from is a complication in it's own right...but I ask, no, I beg you all to accept her, I want to get her back home but for now she wants to help protect us...so I ask, do you accept this Pegasus into our city?"

The civilians pondered before a few spoke.

"I have no issues"

"She saved us from Sasha"

"She's so cute!"

"If Cole's ok with her, I am too!"

The civilians clapped and showed their appreciation to Derpy, who seemed really happy, because now she seems to finally have respect and love from a group of people, she didn't mess up and she did things right, this was her chance at redemption and she was gonna make the most of it.

Derpy waved to everyone and spoke, "My name is Derpy Hooves! And I'm going to protect all of you with my friend Cole!"

Some of the civilians awed at her, due to her cute voice and how cute she was acting, some even liked her for her eyes.

Cole smiled at this, but he had a lot to wonder about.

 _Looks like I don't need to hide Derpy anymore, the city accepts her, well I'm sure most do, but now I need to work extra hard, I need her battle ready, I didn't necessarily want this for her but she seems to need this, I won't deny her, she's finally happy. For now the Reapers have retreated, but they'll be back, they always seem to return, but now they know that Derpy isn't gonna go down without a fight, though it also means they'll work herder to bring her down, but I'll be there for her, she values the concept of friendship, I'll admit the whole 'Friendship is Magic' thing sounds really cheesy, but obviously it has a strong affect with her, so why not just deal with that. Besides, having friends is never a bad thing._

* * *

 **Derpy is gonna save the world! Ok maybe not the world yet, but at least Empire City.**


	5. Battle Practice

**What other surprises for Derpy?**

* * *

The day after the Sasha incident, Cole & Derpy walked the streets of Empire City, people smiling and waving at them

"Looks like people are taking kindly to you so far", Cole said.

Derpy waved at people, "Yeah it's so nice"

"Now remember to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity, these Reapers are occasionally seen trying to smuggle things, either weapons, drugs, or even blast shards"

"Um, Cole, what's a blast shard?"

"Radiated pieces of Earth, not sure if we'll see any but just in case"

"Radiatied pieces of Earth? How'd that happen?"

"Long story, it involves the blast that gave me these powers"

"How did the blast happen?" Derpy asked.

Cole hesitated to answer, "An accident caused it to happen, and accident I was blamed for"

Derpy grew curious, "Tell me more please"

Cole shook his head, "It's hard to explain and-"

She flew to him and looked him in the eye, her eyes actually focused on his, no cross eyes this time, "Please tell me, I won't think any less of you for it, you've been so kind to me this past week, to judge you over something like this would be really ungrateful"

Cole nodded, "Ok, what happened was back when I was a bike courier, I had to deliver a package, however little did I know that it was a bomb, a Ray Sphere, designed to take the energy from several people and merge into one being, I got a phone call to open the package and when I did, it had exploded, killing hundreds, maybe thousands of people, including my girlfriend's sister, once she found out, she left me, and when more found out, they hated me, they blamed me for a death of a loved one, it took me forever to gain their trust, now that I have it, I'm determined to keep it, to make a positive out of a negative"

Derpy looked sad, "I can't believe you went through that, it sounds like it wasn't your fault, you didn't know what was in the package, the blame should fall on the person who gave it to you, but why was there a bomb in that package?"

"I was set up by a guy named Kessler, who wanted to make sure I got the powers from the Ray Sphere, so he can mold me into some soldier, that in itself is also a long story but know that I got my revenge against him"

"Oh...wait is that why this city's destroyed, because of the Ray Sphere thing?"

"No, it was destroyed by a Monster called 'The Beast', I tried to fight it off but no avail, so me and a bunch of people took a boat to a city called 'New Marais', where I became a hero there too, 'The Saint of New Marais' is what they called me, after dealing with The Beast there, and nearly getting killed in the process, I'm lucky to be alive right now honestly, I decided to come back to Empire City, so it can be rebuilt", Cole explained.

"Wow, sounds like quite the adventure, but I still don't think you should blame yourself, it was the fault of that Kessler guy, if you knew what would happen, you never would have taken that bomb right?" Derpy asked.

"If I could, I would go back in time and destroy that thing, making sure it never sees the light of day, that Ray Sphere may have given me powers, but the cost was pretty high", Cole said.

"Well you're making the best of things, and that's all that matters", Derpy said.

"Yeah, I guess"

They walked some more, Derpy asked, "So how long did it take for them to like you?"

"The first time was when I saved a train full of hostages, that's the first time since the blast I got any appreciation from others, at the time I found it pretty hypocritical, but I figured it was better than the jeers I got"

"Wow, that's so cool, at least you went out of your way to save them"

"Actually I did it cause I thought someone I needed to find was in there, at first I really didn't care about people due to how they treated me after I got my powers, soon I started warming up because I knew it was what my girlfriend Trish would have wanted, I was still hoping to get back together with her, eventually I realized that I was being self-centered about this, I wasn't the only one suffering from the blast, everyone was, people were sick, people were dying, people lost loved ones, I wasn't alone, but at least had the powers to make a difference, it was a struggle, but in the end it was worth it"

"Wow Cole, you really are a superhero, not because you have powers, but because you're nice and caring like a superhero should be, you fight for others, I bet your girlfriend loved that...did she ever forgive you for her sister dying and did she ever get back together with you?"

Cole sighed, "She forgave me, but we're still not together, not because she hates me, she doesn't, but the real reason's too hard for me to talk about right now"

Derpy nodded, "That's fine, tell me when you want to"

Cole smiled, "You're a cool chick Derpy"

Derpy hugged Cole, "And you're my best friend Cole"

Cole smiled at first but noticed people were watching, "Uh Derpy, lets not do this in public, people are watching, and it's kinda making things odd"

"We don't mind!" one civilian said.

"We think it's cute!" another said.

Cole chuckled, "Nice to hear, really glad none of you are afraid of her too!"

"Hey she's not one of those ugly mutants from New Marais", one person said.

"Ugly Mutants? What ungly mutants? They're not here are they?" Derpy asked.

"No...at least I hope they're not", Cole said.

"Me too, that sounds scary"

"It is, creepy bunch of bastards"

"How did they exist? From the blast or..."

"No, just experiments, long story, let's just go for now, see what else we can do here"

Cole looked around with Derpy, doing their usual civilian help, whatever got the city rebuilt, though Derpy was occasionally clumsy, like dropping a crate of food, or knocking over some wood, no one complained much, Cole simply helped Derpy so she wouldn't make any more mistakes, giving her a few tips on how to avoid the accidents.

At one point a few Reapers arrived to cause trouble, Cole zapped them away while Derpy tackled a few down.

Luckily there weren't too many in packs, maybe 3 or 4 that would show up, Derpy made a good ally but Cole was worried each time, her fighting skills weren't that top notch.

"Derpy, just out of curiosity, do have battle training?"

"Battle training? Uh not anything grand, I've seen ponies do it, but I do exercise and do training, oh one time I helped fight an evil guy named Tirek, but he stole my ability to fly, well not just me, every Pegasus that went to attack him, but I am ready to fight"

Cole took a moment to register, "Well I'd like to give you a few pointers if you don't mind, just some basic stuff"

Derpy nodded, "Ok, where do we go?"

"Follow me"

They went to a park where they stood on the grass area.

"Ok, come try to attack me, I'm gonna see if I can block it"

"What if you don't block an attack and I accidentally hurt you?"

"Don't worry, I can take a punch, and a kick, taken many shots over time, I won't be mad"

"Ok, if you say so"

"It's just exercise, so don't worry"

Derpy nodded, then went and punched & kicked Cole, he blocked the attacks pretty well until one slipped through and hit his face.

"Cole! Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, relax, nice punch though, now keep going!"

She continued her attacks, a little less than before though, she seemed more cautious.

"Don't hold back Derpy, give it all you got, try to find an opening, this is also practice for you!"

"But I don't wanna-"

"Derpy, I'll be fine, I'm not gonna stop liking you, go for it"

Derpy nodded and this time attacked more, though reluctant to do so, she constantly looked for an opening to attack, once again hitting Cole, this time with a kick to the head.

Derpy looked sad, "I don't like doing this, I'm hurting you"

"This helps Derpy", Cole then noticed a tear in her eye, he wiped it away, "I'm fine"

"I don't think I wanna do this anymore"

Cole sighed, "Well it's fine, I got a feel for what you can do, you're pretty good with your strikes, you have ferocity in them, you just need to hone your skills a bit more, you need a little more practice, especially if you're gonna be my sidekick and help me stop these Reapers"

"I wanna help, I'll be an awesome sidekick!"

"I know you will, we need to practice some more tricks, now since you don't wanna hurt me, I'm gonna get another person to help", he tapped his phone, "Ooooh Zeke!" he said in a sing-song type voice.

"Why do I not like where this is going?" Zeke asked through the phone.

Later on in the park, Zeke is dressed in protective football gear.

"Why am I doing this?" Zeke asked.

"I wanna teach Derpy some more basic martial arts training, and she really doesn't like hurting me"

"But I don't mind hurting you", Derpy said with an evil smile.

"Is this about my comment on your eyes? Cause you see, I haven't told you yet but in this world, weird, means cool", Zeke put on a nervous smile.

Derpy was unconvinced, "You're full of it"

"Excuse me?"

"Go!" Cole shouted.

Derpy ran in and did some punches and kicks to Zeke, which thanks to the protective gear, softened the blows.

"That's nice, but pace yourself, if you go too fast you're gonna wear yourself out and leave yourself open!"

Derpy nodded and lowered her pace, a bit to much.

"Not that slow, you're gonna leave yourself open, hold on", Cole went to them, "Break for a moment"

Zeke sighed while Derpy looked to Cole, "What's wrong?"

"You need a few basics first, lets try attacking in Rhythm, when I say 'Go', you punch, after about 10, you switch to kicks, then after 10, back to punching and so on and so forth"

Derpy nodded, "Ok"

Cole went back and snapped his fingers, "Go!"

Derpy did her punch, and after every 'Go' she continued her punches until she reached 10, then tried her kicks.

These exercises would last a minute, Cole calls for a brief break so Derpy can catch her breath and Zeke could recover, then Cole resumed. After about 10 minutes Cole called an end to the training.

"Did I do good?" Derpy asked.

"You did well, now take a few and get ready for the next exercise, Zeke this time I want you to punch, Derpy has to block"

"So I get to hit back?" Zeke asked.

"DON'T hurt her, not too much at least, Derpy you're ok with that right?"

"Of course, if you can handle it, I want to as well"

"Good, now Zeke attack me a moment so Derpy can see the effective blocks"

"You sure Cole? I got a good right hook", Zeke boasted.

"...Since when?"

Zeke pouted, "You could back me up sometimes you know"

"Hard to back up what doesn't make sense, besides Derpy's not some gullible chick that falls for this charm you say you have"

Derpy blushed, "Wow, that's a first, most ponies think I am gullible"

"They're just judging your eyes I'm guessing, I can look past that, you're pretty smart to me Derpy"

Derpy blushed, "You think I'm smart? I've never been called smart, except by Dinky but I think she was just trying to be nice"

"I don't think so, you are smart, maybe your friend Dinky knows that, you just need more confidence in yourself"

Derpy giggled a bit then started daydreaming while blushing while Zeke groaned, "Should I leave while you two start making out or something?"

Cole glared, "Just throw the damn punch"

Zeke shrugged and punched Cole but he blocked the punches, "Pay close attention Derpy"

Derpy snapped out of her daydream and focused on Cole, she saw his blocking before when they practiced but this gives her a better view, she also then saw how Cole managed to grab Zeke and flip him over.

"Hey you never said anything about flips, since when do you take Judo!?"

"I just grabbed and flipped you, not hard to do"

Zeke stood up groaning and tried more punches only for Cole to eventually grab him and throw him to the side, "Get the point there Derpy?"

"Yeah...say how did you become a good fighter anyway?"

"This city was filled with crooks even before the blast, there were muggers, thieves and bullies everywhere, you had to learn to fight if you wanted to stay safe"

"Wow, rough place"

Zeke approached her, "You got cities where you're from?"

"Yeah, like Manehatten, I heard some ponies there aren't too nice though, maybe they need one of Pinkie Pie's wild parties"

"This Pinkie Pie girl sounds like my type of chick, I like a good party"

"Maybe we can meet her someday, she is one of the few that tolerates me"

"All ponies need to tolerate you Derpy, if the people here can tolerate you despite you being an outsider, your own kind needs ot get their heads out their asses and quit complaining about a few mistakes, from what I've seen it's not that big of a deal, and you do your best to make up for it", Cole said.

Derpy smiled dreamily, "Oh Cole, you're the nicest guy I've met, and the only one to say I'm smart"

"Cole and Derpy sitting in a tree, K-I-S-", Zeke stopped when Cole shot a blast at his feet.

"Shut up Zeke"

Zeke chuckled, "I just call them like I see them"

"Just practice the punches and blocks", Cole said rather irritated.

Zeke nodded and went to attack Derpy, who mostly evaded them, "Hey is she supposed to be doing that?"

"Nothing wrong with dodging, but maybe take it easy so she can practice the blocks too"

Zeke nodded and threw lighter punches, Derpy eventually started blocking.

"Just like that Derpy, you're doing good", Cole said.

Zeke continued the attack and Derpy found her movement.

"Ok I think you can go faster, I'm started to get this"

Zeke nodded and accelerated his punching, Derpy easily able to block most attacks with her hooves and occasionally her wings.

"Ok Derpy, when you see a chance, go for a counter attack"

Zeke stopped a moment, "Seriously?"

"Keep going" Cole said.

Zeke continued the fighting, Derpy was able to block and evade, but at the first opportunity, she saw an opening and hit Zeke pretty hard, luckily he was wearing a helmet.

"Hey!" Zeke said as he stumbled, "Man this helmet didn't really offer too much protection"

"Nice work Derpy"

"Cole can I stop now, I can't handle much more of this!" Zeke complained.

"Fine, you can go do whatever you were doing before", Cole stated.

"Sweet, see ya", Zeke said and rushed off.

Derpy approached Cole, "I did good?"

"Very good, now there's not that much else I can really teach you right now, I'm not some martial arts sensei, I just wanted to show you some basics, besides sometimes the best training is trial by fire, and I think you know enough to really get the upper hand on these guys, you'll learn more doing, but I'll be there by your side to help you"

Derpy nodded and hugged Cole, "I love you Cole, you're the greatest"

Cole chuckled a bit, "You say that a lot"

"Cause it's true"

Cole rubbed her mane, "Come on, I'll go buy you a nice muffin, I think they finally got the lemon flavor one"

Derpy grinned in excitement and nuzzled against Cole's neck.

"Easy, that tickles", Cole said.

Derpy giggled from that, eventually Cole gave in to his laughter as they walked to the bakery.

Though once they got there they encountered three Reaper muggers holding up some people.

"Time to put your training to the test Derpy", Cole said.

Derpy nodded and flew up to the Reapers, "Hey jerks! Over here!" she then blew a raspberry at them.

The Reapers shot at her but she simply flew around, causing their shots to miss, then Cole ran in with a few punches and blasts, taking out two of the Reapers.

The 3rd one shot Cole but he put up his force field while Derpy flew in and kicked the gun out his hand, then started doing several punches to his gut and did an uppercut before finishing with a kick to the head.

"Wow, looks like you do have it in you, we gotta polish these skills once in a while"

Derpy nodded, "So I can beat up Zeke some more?"

Cole shook his head, "No, I know you don't like hurting me but we gotta practice with each other, won't be easy cause I honestly don't wanna hurt you either, but to be a superhero, you have to train with others, think you can handle that?"

Derpy nodded reluctantly, "Ok, fine, I won't like it thought"

"I know, and that's why I like you, you're a caring pony, I almost hate making you do this, but if you wanna be my sidekick, some things must be done, besides it's not really the biggest deal, a few minor punches isn't bad, it's not like we're using weapons, I will NEVER use my amp during practice, but know that you don't have to do this, you can quit any time and I won't be mad, personally I'd probably feel a bit better cause I don't want your life endangered, there's a lot of bastards out there, Sasha isn't the only conduit leader out there"

Derpy nodded, "I know, but I need this, to prove that I can do this, I may already have my cutie mark but I still need to discover a hidden talent, my cutie mark is barely a talent, it's just my personality, who knows, maybe my cutie mark can change so something meaningful"

Cole ruffled her mane, "I like your attitude Derpy, now let's get you that muffin"

As they went inside Cole received a call, "Yeah?"

"Cole, it's the Warden, I need a favor from you"

"Sure, what is it?"

"There are rumors that the Transients are back in the city, I need you to keep a lookout, maybe your Pegasus friend can help"

Cole grew concerned, "Those Garbage loving bunch of weirdos? Wait any sign of Alden?"

"Not yet, but he's probably not far behind"

"Damn...the freaks are coming back to town it seems, don't worry Warden, I'll keep an eye out, Derpy and I will watch over"

"Good, Warden Harms out"

Cole sighed, "Damn, first Sasha, now Alden, the only way this would be worse is if Kessler came back with The First Sons"

Derpy called Cole, "Everything ok?"

Cole turned to her and nodded, "Yeah, I just got a call from The Warden, he's gonna need our help with some stuff soon"

"Really? What?"

"We'll talk it over in the Bakery"

Derpy nodded, "Sure thing"

Both went inside for Cole to explain everything to Derpy, she has more fighting to do, but she was ready to do so, at least Cole hoped for that.

* * *

 **Things get worse for Derpy, but Cole will make sure she's ready.**

 **(I hope this story doesn't seem too lovey-dovey, quite a challenge keeping both in character, even if Derpy barely has a character to begin with)**


	6. Transients Return

**Like Pollution isn't out of control enough, we got guys who basically spread it**

* * *

One day after receiving a call about the Transients, Cole decided to go with Derpy to find where they might be, Cole figured he knew where he could find them.

"So where are we going?" Derpy asked as they walked through the city towards a bridge.

"We're going to the next part of the city, this city is split into 3 parts, the one we're in is The Neon District, we're both heading to The Warren, the Transients hung around there for the most part, they may be trying to reestablish a base there, before the destruction of this city, they had a giant tower made of garbage, they'll probably try and rebuilt that"

"Ew, garbage? Gross", Derpy said.

"Yeah, it smells worse than it looks too, I climbed that tower once with Zeke to retrieve the Ray Sphere"

"They had The Ray Sphere?"

Cole nodeded, "Yeah, I had to get it and get rid of it so it could never be used again, but...", Cole stopped a moment, "I'll tell you more another time, point is we need to take down those Transients.

Derpy nodded, "Lead the way boss"

Cole chuckled at that as he led Derpy across a bridge to the Warren, it was also under some construction, but fairing well.

"Ok, so far I don't see a tower, let's just head to the park where it was already built before The Beast arrived, and be careful, if the Transients are around they'll try to shoot you, and watch out for their Conduits, they're a lot tougher than the Reaper Conduits", Cole warned.

Derpy nodded, "Sure thing...so what do these guys look like?"

"They have garbage bags as clothes and wear paper bag masks", Cole said.

"Wow, what a bunch of weirdos", Derpy said.

"Lots of people in this city are weirdos", Cole said.

They walked through The Warren, people waved at Cole & Derpy, some even took pictures.

"Wow, people really like us"

"Don't be surprised if someone runs up to us asking for some poses, or they wanna show us a poster they made", Cole said.

"A poster?" Derpy asked.

"Yeah, sometimes this city's full of posters with my face on them", Cole said.

"Like that?" Derpy pointed to a poster, it had a drawing of Cole, but this poster also had Derpy.

"Wow, looks like people already got this out, you're a local hero Derpy"

Derpy grinned, "This is so awesome! I'd love to see the look on Rainbow Dash's face, she'd probably be jealous"

"Rainbow Dash? The boastful Pegasus? Yeah maybe that'd give her a good attitude check", Cole said.

Derpy giggled and flew next to Cole.

They eventually reached the park and saw part of a tower being built, "So far the signs point to their return"

Derpy looked at the tower, "Why garbage? And why aren't people doing something about this, it's not good for the city"

"You try telling a group of armed and dangerous men not to do something like this", Cole said.

"Where did they get the garbage from?" Derpy asked.

"Not sure, maybe some old rubble or from another place, who cares, we gotta stop these people and take this place down", Cole said.

"Alright, let's go take out the trash!" Derpy shouted with playful enthusiasm, earning a chuckle from Cole.

"That sounds like something Zeke would say"

"Ew, I don't wanna be compared to Zeke!"

"Relax, you're nothing like Zeke, you're your own mare, that's something I like about you"

Derpy smiled, "Aw, you're such a great friend Cole", she then proceeded to hug him.

Cole's face cringed, "Derpy, seriously not in public, people are watching!"

"I don't care, you're my friend and I love you"

Cole sweated a bit, especially when local civilians took notice, though none of them seemed to judge much, they found the situation cute, but that's another reason Cole didn't like it, he didn't wanna be labeled under anything cute, he's the protector of the city, but not some softie, he wants to retain some badass perks.

"Let's just hurry Derpy, we're wasting time", Cole said.

Derpy let go, "Right"

They both entered the park area, ready for a fight.

As they ventured through the park, a few Transients showed up and started shooting at Cole & Derpy.

"Get down!" Cole grabbed Derpy and they hid behind some bricks.

Cole popped out and shot at the Transients with his blasts but they kept cover behind some of their forts.

"Looks like those rumors were true, come on Derpy, we have some Transients to take out", Cole said.

"Right, give them everything you got, if you need more juice I'll grab a cloud and zap you", Derpy said.

Cole popped out and threw a few Shock Grenades to draw them out of hiding, the blasts managed to take a few out, and the ones he didn't take out were still sitting ducks for his blasts.

He rushed in, taking out some more oncoming Transients, with Derpy flying in and knocking their weapons away, allowing Cole to use his shockwave to knock them back and blast them as they hit the ground.

One Transient went for his gun but Derpy flew to him and did a few punches to it's head and then finished with a kick.

"Careful, some have armor, don't hurt yourself", Cole warned.

"Don't worry, I won't Cole", Derpy reassured.

They proceeded through the park, Cole blasting every Transient he comes across, Derpy then helped Cole across a few moats and they went further into the park and approached the tower, it was heavily guarded by the Transients.

"Ok, gotta keep moving but stay behind cover", Cole said.

"Sure thing", Derpy said.

Both ran in as Cole started zapping the enemy, and using his force field to block their bullets.

While the Transients were focused on Cole, Derpy would sneak up on a few and attack them from behind and steal their guns to beat them over the head with.

Some of them noticed Derpy and started shooting at her but Cole made them his primary targets.

Cole was able to bring down each enemy after several blasts & Mega Watt Hammers.

"Nice work Derpy", Cole said.

"Thanks", Derpy said.

Before they can go up the tower a giant blast landed near them, Cole turned around and saw a Transient Golem,

"Aw crap", Cole said.

Derpy looked surprised, "What in the world is that thing!?"

"It's a Golem! One of their creations!"

Derpy looked surprised, "Wow, it's big and scary...is there someone in the middle?"

"He's controlling it, it's a Conduit", Cole explained.

The Golem then aimed it's arm and started shooting particles at them, they both went for cover behind some enemy forts.

"We gotta take that thing down, otherwise climbing this tower will become harder!" Cole said.

"How!? It looks strong!" Derpy said.

"I've taken these things down before, I just need to attack it's torso when it's exposed"

Cole ran to the creature and started blasting it, the creature shot the rocks but Cole used his shield to protect himself and continued to blast it, mostly with Mega Watt Hammers.

The Creature stumbled back and Cole did enough damage to take out one arm, leaving the torso exposed a bit as he attacked it, then after it closed he attacked the other arm and left it open and exposed so he can attack the center of the Golem.

The Golem stumbled and stuck to it's shoulder bombs, but Cole dodged those and continued to shoot as the creature started glowing from orange to red.

"Almost dead!" he then threw some shock grenades at it until the explosion was too much and the creature finally fell.

Cole panted a bit, "These things already take a lot out of me"

Derpy had an idea, "Don't worry, I'll help recharge you" she started flying up but suddenly couldn't move, "Hey! What's going on!?"

Cole looked up and saw Derpy stuck in mid-air, "What the hell!?"

He then heard an evil laugh, "I knew you'd be back Electric Man!"

Cole growled, "Oh great, it's Alden!"

Alden then emerged, he was using his psychogenesis to keep Derpy levitated in mid-air.

"Hey! I can't move!" Derpy shouted.

"You have returned, and you brought a Pegasus!? Looks like those rumors were true! I heard you saved this creature from those pitiful Reapers, if the Reapers were too much for her, what makes you think she can handle my Transients!?" Alden shouted.

"Just let her go Alden!" Cole shouted.

"If you wish", he used his powers to toss Derpy away, Cole could only watch her fall and scream.

"You bastard!" he shot electricity at Alden but he used various trash as a shield and tossed the trash at Cole, though he dodged before anything hit.

Alden then created some Scrap Crabs to go after Cole, he had to evade and dodge as he blasted them, he used his shock wave to take out a few, but it seems like with every crab he destroyed, two more took it's place, and to make things worse, Alden created two more Golems.

"You gotta be shitting me!" Cole stated and started shooting Mega Watt hammers, though he was starting to feel drained.

Luckily Derpy was able to recover from being tossed and flew up to grab a cloud, she brought the cloud down and stomped on it to hit Cole with Lightning, which he was able to recharge wish.

"Thanks Derpy! Now to take them down!"

"I know how! Keep blasting them, and when I say so, use your Lightning Strike!"

Cole nodded and blasted the creatures as Derpy grabbed a few more clouds, soon more Transients arrived to help, but Alden noticed Derpy in the sky.

"What is that Pegasus doing? I'll take care of her", Alden prepared to use his powers to attack Derpy again, but Cole used his precision attack to hit Alden's hand.

"Don't even think about it old man!" Cole shouted.

Alden tended to his hand, "How dare you!"

Some Transients attempted to shoot Derpy, but she occasionally kicked a cloud to zap them, granted sh ecouldn't generate the same power as Cole's lightning, she still did enough damage to keep them at bay.

One Golem aimed up to attack Derpy but Cole feverishly blasted it's hand, causing major damage, Derpy had to hurry before she or Cole got hurt.

Cole was able to handle these enemies for the most part, he occasionally had to duck for cover and threw several shock grenades to keep the enemies off balance.

Derpy finished putting the clouds together and then buck kicked them, causing a strong rain on the Transients.

"Quick! Use your Lightning Strike!"

Cole nodded and brought some Lightning down, the water making the Lightning more lethal and allowed it to travel better through the creatures, eventually destroying the grabs, the golems and killing the Transients.

Alden growled as he nursed his hand, "That damn Pony, she's gonna be an issue!" he then retreated.

Cole took a breath and then turned to Derpy with a smile, "That was really smart of you"

Derpy blushed, "Thanks, it just...came to me"

"Well you proved that you're gonna be a great sidekick", he looked around, "Looks like the Transients are gone for now, their tower's gonna have to wait before it's rebuilt, too bad Alden escaped, we'll get him later"

Derpy nodded and approached Cole, "Um Cole...can we go home, I feel lie hugging you and I know you don't want me to-" Derpy was but off when Cole started hugging her.

"You deserve it now, I'm proud of you, and I'm happy to call you my friend, I don't care if anyone stares"

Derpy blushed and returned the hug, "I love you"

"...Yeah, you too"

Derpy looked into his eyes with what looked like a loving gaze, "Cole..."

Cole looked a bit uncomfortable with the way she was staring at him, "Yeah...?"

"...Can we get some muffins!?" She squeed at him, causing him to give a 'what?' type face.

"Uh...yeah...yeah sure, you've earned it, this time I'll get you two muffins, any flavor"

She beamed and hugged him tighter, "You're the best!"

Cole chuckled awkwardly, then he walked off with Derpy to find a place that sells muffins, though Cole had a lot on his mind.

 _Well Alden is back, and though me and Derpy won this little battle, we gotta work hard to make sure he doesn't win the war, between The Reapers and now The Transients, Empire City's rebuilding is gonna take a long while, but nothing is ever easy, especially with me, but I have some friends that will help me. Zeke of course will do things only he knows how, but sometimes it's not such a bad thing. And now Derpy...she's quite the ace in the hole thus far, I don't know why the ponies of her world thought she was a nuisance, I'm willing to bet they just didn't give her a chance, typical, no matter where you go, you're gonna have people bringing you down in some way, in life there's very few you can rely on, and I know I can rely on Derpy, just as she relies on me to take care of her, and watch over her, and love her. Love...the way she said it though, does she have feelings for me? Seems weird, she's a pony after all, and I'm a human, still she's no different than most other girls, but still, what would Trish say if I ever started dating a pony? I can't concern myself with that, she's gonna be going home soon anyway, though I do question if she even wants to go back home. If that's the case...looks like I got myself a Pegasus for life._

* * *

 **This isn't over with The Transients, and Cole's still got some more tricks up his sleeve, but what would Derpy say if she saw the other side of Cole?**


	7. Territory Invasion

**Rematch Coming**

* * *

At the apartment, Derpy had told Zeke about her success.

"When I got them all wet and Cole zapped them and electrocuted all of them! It was so cool!" Derpy said.

"Wow, great", Zeke said, almost not too interested, mainly because he found her excitement a bit annoying.

Cole chuckled at Derpy's enthusiasm, she was almost like a shining light and breath of fresh air compared to all the crap he's been through.

When it came time for her to sleep, Cole had tucked her in, "Sleep tight Derpy, you've earned it"

"Thanks Cole"

Cole kissed her head goodnight before turning in himself.

Weeks had passed since then, during that time they had fought away Reapers & Transients, and helped the rebuilding of the city, many more stores were completed, more homes were made, Empire City was looking bigger & better.

Like Cole had predicted, there were posters everywhere of him and Derpy, the city's protectors, Derpy was flattered that people liked her enough to give her a poster.

Derpy even at one point while helping with the rebuilding had started singing, "City clean-up, City clean up, cause we want people in homes"

Cole chuckled, "That's a unique song"

Derpy looked to him, "I was just doing my version of a song called 'Winter Wrap-Up, it's when we all work together on the last day of winter to get rid of all the snow and plant flowers and stuff for spring"

"We have something like that, it's called 'Spring Cleaning', though we don't sing", Cole said.

"Singing makes everything better though"

"Yeah maybe", Cole said.

Soon it was a whole month since Derpy's arrival, quite the month for Derpy, while she missed her home and her friends, she's still grateful she's somewhere where she's appreciated, plus she loves being with Cole, he's been a great influence on her life.

Back home most ponies were very annoyed at her clumsiness, one such being Rainbow Dash, there were some like Golden Harvest who simply pardoned the clumsiness, Cole took it upon himself to help Derpy overcome it, while she was still occasionally clumsy, Cole was always there to help her on her hooves and make sure she did what she needed to do.

Cole himself benefitted from Derpy, her bubbly nature and usual happiness was always a refreshing sight from the usual miserable things he's seen lately, Derpy was probably the greatest thing to happen to Cole since Trish.

One day Cole took Derpy for a walk in the park, the plants were growing back, soon the park would look nice again, some fully grown trees were actually brought to the park and planted in the ground to give the park a nicer atmosphere.

"This park is so pretty, kinda like the one back home, nice days like this I would take Dinky for a nice walk, or fly kites, or play with boats at a pond..." Derpy sighed sadly, "I miss Dinky, and the rest of my friends, few as they are"

Cole eyed her sympathetically, "At least you have some ponies that miss you, sometimes when it comes to friends, quality is better than quanity"

Derpy nodded, "I guess you're right...so how long have you been friends with Zeke?"

"Since my school days, he was the one who tried to be cool and ended up screwing up somehow, he's also this wannabe hero, he does try to look out for me sometimes but he messes up quite a bit"

"Wow, almost sounds like me...man I hate comparing myself to him though"

"Don't worry, the difference is that you're always happy and see the bright side of things, Zeke has natural paranoia and gets nervous about every single thing, and sometimes is a little too cautious on some things and doesn't trust people very easily, hence why he didn't trust you at first...what about you and your friends?"

"Well, there's Golden Harvest, who's my best friend, I've known her for many years, then there's Doctor Whooves, he's newer but he's really nice to me and tries teaching me new things, then there's Dinky, she's like a daughter to me, and probably the only faol that looks up to me, she says it's because even though I make mistakes, I still have a smile on my face, though truth be told, some of my smiles have been fake, but I can never let Dinky know"

"It's not easy being a role model, but you gotta keep at it, besides when you get back home you'll be able to tell Dinky all the cool stuff you did here, like fighting bad guys and helping rebuild a city"

Derpy smiled, "That sounds great"

As they walked they heard some gunfire.

"Sounds like trouble, let's go!" Cole said.

They ran to the middle of the park and found some Transients attacking civilians.

"Transients? What are they doing here? This is the Neon District!" Cole said.

"I don't think the Reapers are gonna appreciate these guys showing up on their territory", Derpy said.

"No they won't, but for the time being, we need to remove them from here, by force", Cole said.

Cole charged up and ran at the Transients, blasting them, "Go back to your trash heap!"

Derpy also ran in and rammed a few of them.

The Transients started shooting at Cole & Derpy, Cole dodged by rolling and using his shield, Derpy flew around in the air, causing the bullets to miss.

Cole zapped a few of them at the head to take them down quicker while Derpy kicked some others.

Soon a Transient arrived with a Rocket Launcher and shot at Cole but he used his shockwave to redirect it back at the Transient, killing it with the explosion.

Some civilians nearby were actually throwing stuff at the Transients in attempt to help Cole & Derpy, but a few were shot for their efforts.

"Go! It's dangerous, don't worry about us!" Cole warned the civilians, then ran back in to attack the Transients.

As Cole & Derpy fought, the Transients called over a Golem.

"Aw crap, not another one of those things", Cole said.

"Don't worry, it's no match for our teamwork!" Derpy said.

Cole started shooting electricity at it and using his shield to block it's makeshift bullets and dodged it's fireballs.

Derpy went to the sky to grab a cloud and started to zap the Golem.

Soon the Golem was on it's last legs and a few Shock Grenades finally defeated it.

More Transients arrived, Cole readied an attack but a few of them were being shot at.

Cole turned to see who did the shooting, it was a group of Reapers, they arrived and shot at The Transients for invading their territory, the Transients then fired back.

Derpy flew over to Cole, "Wow, never thought I'd be happy to see Reapers"

"We gotta stop them", Cole said.

"Huh? What for? Let them kill each other, then we take what's left", Derpy said.

"If this gets out of hand, innocent people could get caught in the crossfire, let's do what we did before, make it rain and I'll use my lightning strike", Cole said.

Derpy looked up, "I hope there's enough clouds for this, I'll try though"

Derpy flew up to gather the clouds, it wasn't too cloudy today so there was a limited supply, but just enough to great a nice big cloud, and luckily the Reapers & Transients were so busy dealing with each other, they didn't notice Derpy forming the clouds.

Once she was done, she caused a rainstorm to happen and the Reapers & Transients started getting wet, that's when Cole hit his Lightning Strike to take down the enemies, the electricity coursing through anything wet.

Cole looked a bit exhausted from that, luckily Derpy was able to grab a cloud and shoot lightning out of it to recharge Cole.

"You're a great sidekick Derpy", Cole said.

"I try my best", Derpy said with a charming smile.

Soon 3 more reapers arrived, followed by a Conduit Reaper.

"I'll take the conduit, you can handle the other 3", Cole said.

"No problem", Derpy said.

They went to attack but the reapers were then hit with some flying objects, except the Conduit one who stopped to see what was happening.

Cole & Derpy also turned their attention to see Alden show up to the fight.

"Well look who decided to show himself again", Cole said.

"Electric Man, Pegasus Girl, you're time is at an end, once I deal with you and that troublesome Sasha, I will finally have this city at it's knees", Alden said.

The Reaper Conduit shot at Alden but he stopped the bullets with his psychogenesis and sent them right back to the Reaper, effectively killing it.

"Wow, that's kinda scary", Derpy said.

Cole readied his electricity, "I'm taking you down Alden, you're not gonna hurt anyone!"

"Such foolishness, you continue to use your powers to help those who will eventually despise you"

"Save it, Kessler tried that crap with me, and you know how well that worked out for him", Cole said.

"Kessler...that name brings much anger to me! You and Kessler are one in the same! You both have taken from me! Now I will take from you before I kill you!"

Alden used his powers to grab Derpy.

"Let her go Alden! This is between us!"

"Her fate was sealed the moment she helped you kill my Transients! I will kill her before I kill you!" Alden then tossed Derpy to a tree.

"You bastard!" Cole zapped Alden a bit, causing some ire.

"You'll pay for that!" he then used his powers to knock Cole back.

Cole got up and saw Alden toss a few more large items at Cole, causing him to dodge quickly and blast at Alden.

Alden put up some things to block and sent them at Cole, knocking him back a bit.

Alden approached Cole but Derpy flew over and rammed Alden.

"Forget about me!?"

Alden used his powers to toss Derpy to Cole's location.

"You ok there?" Cole asked.

"I'll be fine, let's take this jerk down!"

The two rushed at Alden but he created a lot of barricades for himself and soon started to form a giant garbage monster with him at the head.

"Oh crap, this thing again", Cole said.

Alden in his new giant suit shot some makeshift garbage bullets at the two, causing them to duck for cover, then Cole shooting some Mega Watts at the Monster's head.

Alden shot some flaming garbage balls at them, Cole and Derpy moving quickly to avoid them, Cole used his powers to lift up objects of his own and toss them at Alden.

"Take that old man!" Derpy said.

Alden then slammed the streets, causing a mini Earthquake to get Cole off balance and then shot some more bullets at them.

Derpy managed to lift Cole up and hold him in the air, "Shoot him!"

Derpy flew around with Cole as he zapped and blasted at Alden, Derpy flying around to get Alden confused and a bit dizzy.

"Stand still you insects!" Alden did his best to attack them.

Cole tossed a few shock grenades down to damage the suit that Alden had.

"Derpy, I have an idea fly up higher, and then fly me so I'm over the head", Cole said.

Derpy nodded and flew Cole a bit higher and positioned him ovet the head.

"Good, now drop me"

Derpy looked concerned, "I can't do that, what if you get hurt!?"

"I got a plan, just drop me I'll be fine"

Derpy reluctantly dropped Cole, and Cole used his Thunder Drop to land on the head of Alden's suit, damaging it well, Cole then jumped to the street and used his Lightning Strike on the damaged part.

Alden's suit was falling apart, Derpy flew down and refilled Cole with Lightning and then used the lightning to attack Alden.

Cole then shot some Mega Watt Hammers and managed to destroy Alden's suit.

Alden crawled away from the wreckage and looked as Cole & Derpy approached him.

"Stay back!" Alden said and used his powers to knock them both back.

The two recovered and rushed at Alden, Cole zapping him a few times, Derpy speeding in and punching Alden.

Cole approached Alden with his amp and whacked him a bit and then cartwheeling backwards to blast him.

"Time to finish you off!" Cole then shot a few Mega Watt Hammers to blast Alden down, Cole readied his Lightning strike but Derpy stopped him.

"I think you've won, don't waste your time or energy"

Cole was huffing a but bit decided to take Derpy's advice, then then approached Alden and used his Arc Restrain to bind Alden down for the police.

"You'll pay for this Cole! Once I'm free I will come back and destroy you!"

Soon the two made their way back to Cole's Apartment.

"Another job well done, maybe we won't have to worry about the Transients anymore", Derpy said.

"Not now at least, I just hope Alden doesn't break out of jail again", Cole said.

"That dude's so weird, talking about you being like that Kessler guy you told me about, you're WAY nicer than Kessler, I don't think he would have taken me it"

"He would have, to experiment on you"

That made Derpy nervous a bit.

"But don't worry, I found you, so you're safe as long as you're with me"

Derpy smiled and then hugged Cole, causing him to roll his eyes slightly, he liked Derpy, but she was too affectionate at points.

"Ok there, you made your point Derpy, I know I said hugs are fine in private but it does get a little-" Cole was cut off when Derpy kissed him.

Cole looked surprised and weirded out, why was she doing this?

Derpy broke the kiss and smiled at him, Cole looked really surprised.

"Any reason you just kissed me?" Cole asked.

"That's for being so nice to me all the time, and because I think you're handsome"

Cole chuckled nervously, "I'm flattered, though I'm not sure if I want to take things that far right now"

"It was worth it though"

Cole felt really awkward there, he liked Derpy, but wasn't sure if he liked her that way, she IS a pony after all, but he decided not to think too much about it at that moment and went to lay down a bit, Derpy sat on the couch satisfied with her actions.

Later while Cole, Zeke & Derpy were watching TV, the some magical build up was happening.

"Uh, Cole, Derpy, what's going on there?"

Derpy looked a bit confused, then a letter materialized, they then read the letter.

 _Dear Derpy, I hope this letter reaches you, tracking you was a bit hard but thanks to a little magic, we found some trace of where you might be, I don't know where you are but here's hoping you're safe there, it's pretty bad here though, Sombra's ruling everywhere and hurting many ponies, but your friends are fine, and Derpy, in case I never see you again, I'm really sorry for not being so nice to you and calling you weird, I never wanted anything like this to happen to you, but I hope I see you again, Love Spike._

Derpy teared a bit and hugged the letter, "They actually miss me, well at least Spike does"

Cole ruffled her hair, "See, you're a lovable girl, it's like the old saying goes, you don't know what you have til you lost it"

Then a picture came with a note attached.

 _This is for you._

Derpy looked at the picture.

"It's my friends, Golden Harvest, Dr. Whooves & Dinky Do"

Cole & Zeke looked at the picture.

"Nice friends you have there, wow Dinky DOES look a bit like you", Cole said.

"Eh, I don't see it", Zeke said.

Derpy glared at Zeke but ignored it, "I'm so glad you did this for me Spike, I just wish-"

Another picture arrived, this time of Spike, Cole & Zeke looked surprised.

"Wow, a dragon", Cole said.

"Wish we got him, he can probably breath fire", Zeke said.

"If we needed fire, I would have taken Nyx on her offer", Cole said.

Derpy smiled at the picture of her friends, "I miss you, I'll be home soon"

She hugged the picture as Cole sat next to her and hugged her a bit, Derpy returned the hug.

"At least I have you", Derpy said.

Cole smiled, then grew annoyed when he saw Zeke make a gag motion.

For now Derpy had that extra bit of hope.

* * *

 **Cole & Derpy still have Reapers to worry about, plus maybe another old Empire City Faction.**


	8. Cole & Derpy vs The First Sons

**Derpy to see another old gang**

* * *

3 weeks passed by, Empire City has continued to improve, some construction was set back due to various Reaper attacks among other things, but beyond that things have been going well.

Derpy has still occasionally flirted with Cole, making it apparent that she still has some feelings for him, much to his personal confliction.

Zeke got this idea that Derpy liked Cole and he constantly made jokes about it, much to Cole's frustration, even Derpy got slightly annoyed at that, she didn't appreciate Zeke making a joke about her feelings for Cole.

One day Cole decided to visit the Historic District to check on things there, he brought Derpy with him.

"So the Historic District is where you first got your powers?" Derpy asked.

"Yeah, I can take you to the area where I woke up after the blast, I was so surprised I wasn't dead", Cole said.

"I bet you were relieved to be alive too"

"Yeah, then I saw what happened, for a while it was believed to be a terrorist attack, once people found out it was me, I got blamed and I got called a 'Terrorist' by some TV Jacker"

"So you got slandered, that must suck"

"Sucked big time"

They went to the borough and checked around a bit, things were going well, the buildings were being rebuilt, so Cole & Derpy went to several area to lend a helping hand, or helping hoof it Derpy's case.

They either brought some supplies or helped with some Medical Clinics, anyone who was hurt had been given the Healing Touch by Cole.

While there Derpy asked the question, "So any gangs to worry about here?"

"Not sure, this was First Sons terriroty, Warden Harms said there's been no sign of them though"

"What are they like?"

"For one they're dressed for the job, they usually have riot gear & gas masks, they're a lot tougher than the Transients, and they have more Conduit forms and more technology"

"Sounds scary, I hope they're not here"

"Same, though knowing my luck, they may end up coming back sometime soon"

"Don't worry, if they do, we'll be ready!" Derpy flexed her muscles.

Cole nodded, "Yeah, we will"

They spent the rest of the afternoon fixing the place up, Cole then decided they could call it a day.

"Come on Derpy, let's get home, we'll get you something nice to eat"

"Sweet, take me to a fancy restaurant, you can be my date", she flashed a sly grin.

Cole sighed, "Seriously Derpy?"

"Sorry, I can't help it, you know I like you a lot, sometimes I wonder what it'll be like if we were in love"

Cole rubbed his face, "Derpy, I like you, but not that way"

Derpy sighed sadly, "I wish I was a human, then you'd like me"

Cole shook his head, "It's not that Derpy, the thing is, I'm afraid that something bad's gonna happen to you, it'll hurt enough that I lose a friend, to lose someone I'm in love with, that's just too much for me, same for you, I sometimes believe I could die at any moment, I don't want you going through that heartache, it's not a good feeling, I'm still gonna protect you with my life, but I'm just afraid to love you more than I do"

Derpy felt sorry for Cole, though she now knows the proper way to get his heart, she needs to prove that she's strong enough to handle danger and face fear, she feels he does like her the way she likes him, but just afraid to really let those feelings out.

Derpy approached Cole and hugged him, "It's ok though, I get it, though I wish I could be with you"

Cole hugged her back, not really saying a word.

Soon they broke away, "Let's just head home", Cole said.

As they walked Cole noticed something odd nearby, "Hold on"

Derpy looked concerned, "What's wrong?"

Cole started checking nearby, even peeking around a corner.

He saw a flying device, similar to the one used by The First Sons.

"Oh no, please tell me they're not back", Cole said.

Derpy approached, "What's that thing? Looks so weird"

"Derpy, stay here, I need to go check something out", Cole move forward while Derpy stayed behind, though made sure to keep an eye on him.

Cole approached cautiously, those things were a pain to deal with, plus he needs to see what's happening.

He moved and followed it into an alley way, once inside a bunch of First Son members came from nowhere and surrounded Cole, he realized he had just walked into a trap.

Cole simply got into a defensive stance, ready to strike.

"So you bastards have decided to return, figures", Cole said.

The First Sons began shooting at Cole but he rolled out the way and blasted them with his electricity and shot a few Mega Watt hammers to knock a few back.

He ran out the alley and towards Derpy.

"Cole, what's wrong?"

"Move! Quickly!" Cole shouted.

Derpy then saw The First Sons approach, "What are they!?"

Cole stopped a moment, "Stand aside a moment!" he then used his Lightning strike ability to take out several of them.

A few of those machines flew at Cole and started tossing grenades, Cole used his shock wave to knock the grenades back, a few of them exploding on some First Sons.

Cole shot the machines, Derpy also assisted by flying in to punch and kick them.

Some of the First Sons shot at Derpy but she quickly evaded, Cole used the distraction to zap them, he occasionally had to drain some energy from nearby to make sure he didn't short out.

Soon one First Son arrived and activated something to form a huge purple field, it looked like a Giant First son, only transparent.

"Damn, a conduit! Keep moving back!" Cole said and shot the host First Son, but he also had to deal with the ones on the ground.

Derpy checked the sky for any clouds, there were a few, not a lot to do the Rain & Lightning move but one cloud would do for now.

She grabbed it and then used it to kick lightning out, zapping several of the First Sons, allowing Cole to focus on the Conduit while Derpy took out the ground troops.

Derpy had to kick hard just so the Lightning was strong enough to cause some damage, she managed to take a few of them out.

Cole was soon able to do enough damage to the conduit, causing it to lose it's power form, he rushed to it and used his Arc Restraint to keep him down.

After they took out a few more First Sons, a Truck arrived with a Gatling Gun and shot at Cole, but he used his Shield to stop the bullets.

Derpy used her cloud to zap the guy from above, Cole then using his Lightning Strike to destroy the truck and kill everyone.

More of them started coming to attack.

"Where the hell are these guys coming from!?" Cole asked.

Cole tossed several Shock Grenades to them, taking several out.

Derpy flew in and attacked several of them, she took out a few and by zig zagging around, she caused some friendly fire among The First Sons, taking them out and allowing Cole to blast them.

After a few more minutes of fighting, The First Sons stopped coming, Cole & Derpy sighed and panted a bit.

"Holy shit, it was like a war", Cole said.

"Man, they're tougher than The Reapers & The Transients", Derpy said.

"Damn straight, but how did they get here? I dealt with Kessler, these guys should be gone", Cole said.

"Maybe someone else is controlling them?" Derpy asked.

"Wonder who?"

"Let's see...did Kessler have anyone he could trust?"

"Not sure, the only person he really hung out with was Sasha, they had a pretty weird relationship"

"Sasha? Ew, I hate her...wait you think she took over The First Sons? Maybe she's running both The Reapers & The First Sons"

"That makes sense, I still wanna be sure"

Derpy thought of something, "What if she tried to take over The Transients?"

Cole pondered, "That would be quite a feat"

"What do we do now?" Derpy asked.

"Let's just head back, gotta let Warden Harms know about this", Cole said.

Cole contacted Warden Harms, "Warden, The First Sons are back, me and Derpy just took out a whole bunch of them"

"Damn, I was worried about this, we'll keep a look out, thanks for helping in that situation, Jesus, when we decided to rebuild the city, I didn't want the bad stuff to be rebuilt as well"

"There's good and bad everywhere Warden, that's why people like us are here"

"Good point, keep up the good work Cole, tell Derpy her participation is much appreciated too"

"Thanks", Cole hung up, "Ok Derpy, you earned a nice little treat for this"

"Will you finally be my date?" Derpy asked with a smile.

Cole simply stared like if he was very annoyed, then sighed, "Fine, I'll treat you like my date, but that's it"

Derpy squealed as she followed Cole, though they themselves were unknowingly followed.

They went to the restaurant that Cole mentioned, nothing fancy, just a place that sold burgers and stuff, it was more of a glorified Fast Food Restaurant.

Cole ordered a burger for him and a pizza for Derpy, both sat at a booth and waited.

"So...nice night huh?" Derpy asked.

Cole nodded, "Yeah, I guess so"

Derpy thought of something to say, Cole himself not sure either, even if he let this be a 'date', he still didn't feel it, he wasn't sure if he should just talk for the sake of talking or throw some playful romance.

Derpy then spoke, "Do you think I'm pretty?"

Cole groaned a bit, "Yeah, you're very pretty"

Derpy blushed, "Aw thanks, you're very handsome"

Cole looked around nervously, he noticed people staring and whispering, it really annoyed Cole.

Derpy spoke again, "Cole, if I prove that I'm really strong, and that nothing will hurt me, then will you be my coltfriend?"

Cole raised his eyebrow, "What?"

Derpy realized her word fumble, "Um, I mean boyfriend"

Cole thought a moment, "Maybe...I like you an all but I just don't know if I can pull it off"

"I think you can Cole, I'll be there for you, but I want to know that you'll love me, because I can't help being in love with you"

Cole cringed, "Kinda getting sappy here"

"I know, but it's my honest feelings"

Cole sighed, "Look, right now isn't good, there's still some things you don't know about me, I'm not a perfect guy, in fact I myself struggle with certain things"

"Like that?"

Soon some destruction happened, everyone ducked and ran out the restaurant.

"Now what!?" Cole shouted.

3 First Sons appeared after deactivating their cloaking device.

"Damn, more of them!?" he quickly ran out the restaurant, hoping for them to follow him, once they did he tossed a shock grenade at one and it caused an explosion that knocked the other two away.

One got up and fired a shotgun blast at Cole, but he rolled out the way and hit zapped him a few times before running in and doing some melee attacks and finished with a jump kick that knocked him through a window.

One aimed his gun at Cole, Derpy flew in to attack but he quickly whacked her with the gun, then approached her and hit her with the gun a few more times before aiming at her.

Cole noticed the situation, "No! Get away from her!" he blasted him until he fell, Cole went to check on Derpy, she was bruised and bleeding from the mouth.

"Derpy...", he angrily turned to the First Son, "You God Damn bastard!"

He appeared over the First Son and did his Bio-Leech, draining the life out of the First Son and absorbing it, causing him to briefly glow red and growl a bit.

A surviving First Son struggled to get up, Cole angrily eyed him and grabbed him and electrocuted him.

"Burn in hell!" Cole shouted.

Derpy regained her composure and saw Cole visciously kill one of The First Sons.

"Oh my Stars!" she shouted.

Cole dropped the First Son's body and turned to Derpy, who had a look of fear in her eyes, which caused him to snap out of his rage.

"Derpy?"

Derpy looked a bit frightened at what she saw, causing Cole ot feel guilt.

"Sorry you had to see that, unfortunately I have a sense of corruption in me, my powers can stem from my emotions, you see how I acted when you were just hurt, and you're just my friend, if I loved you and you got hurt, it could be a lot worse, plus fear I too will hurt you"

Derpy just stared a moment.

"If you're still afraid of me, I don't blame you, if you don't wanna be near me then you don't have to be"

Derpy simply stood and flew over to Cole to hug him.

"I'm afraid, but I still care about you, the way you acted was scary, but it shows that you at least care about me too"

Cole hugged her back, "Just be careful, I can be just as dangerous as the others"

"Then that gives us that much more in common now does it, we're both imperfect that cause damage we never intend to cause"

Cole realized she had a small point, he wouldn't outright compare the situations, there's a difference between accidentally knocking over a can of paint and outright killing someone in rage, but maybe the priniple is there, still, he knows it's dangerous to love, but she doesn't care, she believes that love finds a way.

Meanwhile with Sasha, she is observing the two not too far off.

"You're right King Sombra...these ponies do have a sickening love for others, she has the nerve to bring out the good in him? He's better as a bad boy"

Sombra's voice spoke, "She may be a civilian pony, but I can't take any chances, make sure you dispose of her"

"Will do Sombra", Sasha let out an evil laugh.

* * *

 **Why are the First Sons back? Who's controlling them?**


	9. Big Revelations

**He shall return**

* * *

Two weeks had passed by since The First Sons attack, Cole kept a good watch to make sure none of them tried anything funny, occasionally checking back to The Historical District, so far things have been a little too quiet for his liking.

Derpy has had mixed feelings about Cole lately, he seems a lot angrier than before which she doesn't like, and she's afraid his evil side might come out, but she also knows that he still cares about her and his main reason for concern is making sure she's not hurt.

Zeke was also a bit worried for Cole, but he knows how Cole can be sometimes and knew not to bother him too much about it.

Cole constantly had patrols through Empire City, some without Derpy, he feared she could get hurt again, and he seemed a bit more ruthless in his approach.

Cole & Derpy still worked to help rebuild the city, the streets were essentially back to normal, water was flowing well, many homes were made, it didn't look quite like a city bit it was getting there.

One day while Cole was out with Derpy in a walk through a park, Cole received a call from Warden Harms.

"Cole, it's Warden Harms, some of my men just caught sight of The First Sons in the Historic District"

"I'm on my way", Cole said, he turned to Derpy, "Head home"

Derpy pouted, "You never bring me anymore"

"I can't risk you getting hurt, you need to stay"

"But then I'll be scared, I don't like being away from you!"

"I know you don't but I want to protect you from harm, these bastards are very ruthless, the last thing I need is for you to die"

Derpy looked conflicted, "You promise you'll be back? Promise you'll be alive?"

Cole sighed, "You know I can't make that promise"

Derpy pouted again, "Then I can't go home, I won't let you die"

"Dammit Derpy..."

"I love you! I want to stand by you!"

Cole hesitated a moment, "I love you too Derpy...that's why you need to stay behind"

Derpy looked concerned but she simply nodded, "Ok Cole"

Cole gave her a reassuring smile, "I'll be back"

He left the area, leaving Derpy somewhat conflicted inside, she didn't want him to be endangered but she also wanted to respect his wishes.

Now it was Derpy's turn for her big decision, obey Cole & go home, or defy Cole and follow him, what does her heart say to do? It's an obvious choice.

Cole ran off to The Historic District to find the First Sons, he was ready to brawl.

He searched around the District, electricity charged in his hand, ready to strike the first person that looks at him the wrong way.

After walking a bit, some First Sons peeked their heads out, ready to attack.

Cole sensed their presence nearby, and as soon as one started to open fire, Cole ran in and hit that one in the head with his Precision shot.

The others came in and started shooting, Cole put up his shield and then blasted those shooting at him.

The First Sons ran in firing their machine guns, Cole simply blasted them, using standard shots, triple shots, his Mega Watt Hammers, his Shock Grenades, taking down the First Sons blast by blast.

He ran near the water area and as the First Sons came, he managed to blast a few, some falling into the water, then he shot some electricity at the water, electrocuting them an leaving their lifeless bodies in the water.

Many more started, Cole then used his Lightning Strike to take down a large group of them, then he panted a bit, the waves seemed to have stopped for the time being.

Cole went to a nearby generator to charge up and readied for another onslaught.

Unbeknownst to Cole, Derpy was not too far from the area, she watched from a distance, she wanted to be sure that Cole would be fine, but she couldn't let him see her due to Cole telling her to stay back.

Derpy should probably have listened to Cole, but her conscious would not allow her to leave him unattended.

Soon more First Sons came after Cole, he zapped them as they came, there were a lot, luckily Cole got a little back-up from some policemen who arrived at the area and started shooting the First Sons.

"Glad these guys have my back", Cole continued blasting them.

Derpy was also relived that Cole had a good share of back-up, though was still concerned for Cole's life.

Cole ran in and used melee attacks on several of the First Sons, mostly the ones that were distracted by the cop shooting.

A few started attacking from rooftops, Derpy wasn't gonna stand by and let them take shots at Cole, so she grabbed a few clouds and gathered them overhead and then kicked them to strike the First Sons with Lightning.

Cole didn't notice Derpy, he was still busy fighting them on the ground, he continued to blast them.

Soon a few Conduits came, taking their giant forms, with Cole falling back and blasting the middle.

While Cole was fighting on the ground, Derpy was flying around the rooftop areas, taking out all the snipers.

After several blasts, including Mega Watt hammers, Cole managed to take down the conduits, soon The First Sons had finally stopped coming.

The police spread around to make sure they were done with their waves of attacks.

Cole let out a big sigh of relief, as did Derpy from a nearby roof.

"Wow, Cole's such a great fighter, and I make such a great sidekick", Derpy boasted.

Sasha then suddenly appeared behind Derpy, "You're also good bait"

Derpy quickly turned around and was grabbed by Sasha.

"Ah! Help!" Derpy shouted.

Cole heard the cry for help and turned to the rooftop he heard the scream from, "Is that Derpy!?"

Cole rushed over to the roof and found Sasha with Derpy in her clutches.

Cole charged up, "I swear you're fucking dead if you harm her!"

Sasha glared, "That's not a nice thing to say to the woman who loves you"

"I ain't interested in you!"

"Because of her", Sasha glared at Derpy, "I know how much this one loves you, and how you struggle because you love her, yet you fear the taboos and her safety, it's not easy to be your lover it seems, just ask Trish"

Cole clenched his fists, "Don't you dare talk about Trish! Kessler ruined that for me"

Derpy struggled, "Hey put me down you creep!"

"Quiet!" Sasha then punched Derpy in the gut, causing Cole to flip out and blast Sasha and hit her with a Mega Watt hammer off the roof.

Cole approached Derpy, "Did she hurt you!?"

Derpy shook her head, "I'm fine...though my stomach hurts a bit"

Cole picked up Derpy, "I'll get you home"

He jumped off and help Derpy tight, as he touched the ground, he noticed someone familiar nearby.

"Cole..."

Cole freaked, "What, no, it can't be you!"

Derpy looked ahead, "Who is that!?"

The man then sent an attack that knocked Cole & Derpy back, causing them to hit the side of a building pretty hard, knocking Derpy out cold.

The man approached Cole and looked him in the eye, "It's been awhile"

Cole growled, "Kessler, how is this possible, I thought I dealt with you!"

"I'm only here for the time being, you'd be amazed what wonders you can find in this world, science, magic, endless possibilities"

Cole growled, "You want a rematch, I'll take you on, I swear I will"

"I am in no mood to fight, I came to see what has happened since our last encounter, looks like my First Sons have returned"

"Aren't you the one behind that!?"

"No...this is all Sasha, she will become a very powerful being, between her experiments with the tar, plus her assistance from the Unicorn that conquered that Pegasus's world, King Sombra, she's close to finishing what I once started, to perfect the Ray Sphere and really increase her power"

Cole looked surprised, "Impossible, I destroyed that thing!"

"She found my notes, and is attempting to rebuild, one reason she so desperately wants you is her hopes to gather your conduit energy, not just you, other Conduits, Reaper ones, Transient ones, First Son ones, and others like Alden and your friends from New Marais, she hopes to use your powers to speed up development, then continue to grow it"

Cole looked concerned, "Damn..."

"Don't be surprised if she tries to use Sombra to get magic from your friend's world to speed things up, this would endanger this world and hers"

Cole stood up, "I'm not gonna allow that, Sasha's going down"

Kessler nodded, "Good, I should hope so, I expect great things from you Cole, don't let me down", Kessler looked down and saw Derpy struggle to get up, "It looks like your friend is starting to regain consciousness"

Cole helped up Derpy a bit, she then noticed Kessler, "Who are you?"

"Derpy, that's Kessler"

Derpy freaked and clutched to Cole, "You better not hurt him"

"I am not here to hurt him, just warn him the dangers coming to this world, and you should be aware of the dangers coming to your world, Sombra knows of this place, I suggest you keep an eye out"

Derpy was scared, she didn't wanna have to deal with Sombra, especially since she didn't know where The Elements of Harmony were.

Kessler started to walk back, "I will be watching you both" he then suddenly disappeared, Cole & Derpy both confused.

"This is so weird", Derpy said.

"Tell me about it", Cole replied.

All of a sudden they were attacked by Sasha, she used her tar to grab them both.

Cole zapped her in the head to make her let go and then he continued to blast her.

Sasha got up, soon some Reapers arrived.

"Get them, try to get Cole alive, but kill the Pegasus!" she took a step back as The Reapers went after Cole & Derpy.

Cole ran in and blasted and punched the Reapers, and utilized his arm as well, Derpy used hand to hand combat to take out several of the Reapers, then grabbed a wooden plank and whacked them a bit.

Cole zapped & blasted them, Derpy also used some lightning from clouds to attack, soon some Police arrived and shot the Reapers.

As Cole fought through them, Sasha eventually tossed some tar in his face, as well as Derpy's.

"Cole...you won't win, and Derpy, your time is nearing it's end"

Cole wiped the tar and continued to blast The Reapers, Derpy flew up to stay out of their line of fire.

The Policemen shot the Reapers away, allowing Cole & Derpy to recover and resume the attack.

Eventually the Reapers just stop coming, Sasha was alone, Cole & Derpy then chased after her, though Sasha was really crafty and shot several tar attacks at them as she ran through the city, soon she escaped into a manhole.

Cole went to open the Manhole but a few Invisible First Sons attacked, Cole was able to sense their location and used a shockwave to knock them back.

Derpy ran in to punch them each a bit allowing Cole to zap them as well, soon the 3 were taken down.

Cole didn't bother with the manhole, he knew Sasha was long gone, he figured never mind, just get Derpy home.

When they got home, Derpy sat on the couch, "Wow, long day"

Cole didn't look happy, "Derpy did you follow me when I told you not to?"

Derpy's smile faded, "Um...if I said 'yes', then you'd be unhappy right?"

Cole gave her a stern look, "Derpy...you could have been killed today"

"Hey it's a good thing I was there, I really helped you, you were almost killed"

"Derpy, my main concern is that YOU don't get killed, you need to get home, your friends will miss you if you died, I don't want your death on my conscious"

"But Cole, what about me! If you died then I would be sad, why don't you ever consider that!?"

"I do, but-"

"But nothing!" Derpy flew over to him, "Since I came here you've been so kind to me and you took great care of me, if you died then what? I don't know when I'll ever get home, I want to be with you until that day...honestly I don't even want you dying after I get home, because I really hope I can visit this world a few times...or take you with me"

Cole looked curious, "Me live in Equestria?"

Derpy nodded, "Even though I wanna go home, part of me wants to stay because I love you a lot, maybe we can go back to my world, away from all this, start a relationship, get married, have kids and live happily ever after"

Cole looked into her eyes, he can tell she really feels strongly about this, he's flattered she loves him a lot, though he questions how he can marry a pony...or have children with her, if it's even possible.

Cole simply hugged Derpy, "I'm sorry for not considering your feelings, but the thing is...I love you a lot, and that's why I'm willing to die for you, I'm more concerned for your life than my own"

Derpy looked up at him, "That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me, truth be told, like many other young fillies, I too wished one day I could meet a brave handsome knight that would protect me from all the scary things"

She nuzzled under his neck, "You're not what I expected, but you're still what I wanted"

"Thanks...wait not what you expected? Which part was unexpected?"

"The fact that you're a human and not technically a knight...but you're still handsome, plus you're very charming"

Cole chuckled, "You're not that different than other girls, wishing for a hero, the difference is that you're not a damsel in distress, you're a strong mare too, that's better than relying on a hero, not that it's bad to have a hero, but it's important to be as strong as your hero"

Derpy chuckled, "You're right, I still consider you my knight, but I still want to fight alongside my knight"

"That's no issue for me, I like a strong girl"

Derpy grinned and flew over to the couch and sat down, "Let's just relax for now"

Cole sat next to her, Derpy then grinned evilly and sat close to Cole, really close.

Cole understood what she was doing, he simply wrapped an arm around her, she then got in a position to rest her head on his chest as he laid on the arm of the couch with his legs up.

Derpy looked to Cole and gave him a nice kiss, "I love you"

Cole nodded, "You too"

The two continued to lay down and watch a little TV.

 _Man, one weird thing after the other, Sasha taking over The First Sons, Kessler coming back, The Ray Sphere, King Sombra's involvement and now Derpy's feelings, my life has had a weird turn of events. My life's been weird since I got these powers, I'm used to it. I need to deal with Sasha now, she's gonna be really dangerous, I need to make some major plans, but it's nothing I can't handle, especially with Derpy by my side. Who would have thought I would ever meet a Pegasus, and said Pegasus would fall in love with me. Is it wrong to love her back? I don't know, and honestly, I really don't care, I'm already a freak of nature, having a Pegasus for a lover can't be worse. Besides, she's a really nice looking girl, hell I'll say she's adorable, probably never out loud though, for others besides her to hear. Eh, like I care._

Meanwhile in a CIA area, some men approach a woman.

"We found out some details about Empire City, and the Conduit, it's believed there's a Pegasus there too"

A woman turned around, "Pegasus? That's interesting, looks like we'll have to pay Empire City a visit"

The man nodded and walked off, the lady looked through her files, "Cole...we'll be meeting again"

* * *

 **Looks like someone's returning to greet Cole, plus The Reapers continue to grow.**


	10. Secrets of Love

**Derpy to see the cruelty of this world's Government**

 **Mild Suggestive Scene here**

* * *

Derpy has been in Empire City for about 3 months, a strange world but she has adapted pretty well, thanks especially in part to her friend Cole MacGrath.

Cole has been a great friend to Derpy, however she has recently developed romantic feelings for him, feelings he was hesitant to return out of concern for her safety, but lately he's lightened up on the subject.

One day Cole & Derpy were watching TV, enjoying a nice baseball game, Cole laid back comfortably on the couch, Derpy laid on him in an embrace, which Cole had returned.

"Nice to enjoy moments like this together, just you and me in the comfort of our home", Derpy said.

Cole nodded, "Yeah, kinda wish it could be like this longer, being a superhero is hard work, someone's gotta do it I guess"

Derpy cuddled more, "And you do a great job"

While they were watching, Zeke entered the room, "Hey Cole! I gotta...oh I'm sorry am I disturbing your little romance?" he started laughing a bit, much to Cole & Derpy's annoyance.

"What do you want Zeke?" Cole asked, resisting the urge to zap him a little.

Zeke stopped a moment and spoke, "I'm just here to warn you, I saw some Feds, they've been looking around, asking the civilians about Derpy, you need to watch out Cole, I think the Government wants to take her away".

Cole scoffed, "Over my dead body"

"Better be careful, they could make that happen"

Cole got up a bit, Derpy flying off so he can stand properly, he then grabbed his amp and went to the door, "I'll get this straightened out"

He walked to the door and turned to Derpy, "Stay put here"

"But Cole..."

"Derpy, don't argue this, if what Zeke says is true, you might be in direct danger"

Derpy sat down, "Fine, but hurry back"

"It won't take long, I'm just gonna go see what they want, then I'll come back to you", Cole left the home and a worried Derpy behind.

Cole went through the streets and found some CIA guys talking with a few civilians, Cole then approached them, "Hey, you guys looking for me?"

The guys went to Cole and gave him a Dead Drop, Cole was confused but he simply placed it in his phone and listened.

"Cole, it's Moya, listen I know last time we did business it didn't end well, I know I should not have deceived you the way I did, but I think now we can move past that, I have a new proposition for you, these men will give you a number to call, you contact me and we can make a smart business decision, you do this and I can make your life run a little smoother than it already has"

The message ended, Cole was a little confused and unsure, he didn't really trust Moya too much after what happened last time, a man simply gave Cole a number for him to contact Moya and left.

Cole simply climbed to a rooftop for some privacy and called Moya.

"Moya...it's Cole"

"I had a feeling you might call"

"Yeah whatever, what is it that you want?"

"I'll cut to the chase, it's about that Pegasus you have"

"What do you want with Derpy!?" Cole had sounded a little protective.

"Easy Cole, there's no need for alarm, our CIA is simply interested and curious with the Pegasus, the idea that one exists baffles many people and we hope to have her to learn more about her"

"How do you know about Derpy anyway?"

"Cole...when a Pegasus is discovered by people, it doesn't take too long for word to spread"

Cole grumbled a bit, "Look, I don't know what you want with Derpy, but how can I be sure I can trust you with her? She's very nervous with other people and she just wants to go back home, I'm just watching her until she can get home"

"We just need to see her, that's all"

Cole didn't sound to convinced, "Look Moya, she's been thought a lot and..."

"Listen, if you're so concerned, why don't you just accompany her? That way you can keep an eye on her"

Cole pondered and then made his decision, "Fine, no funny business Moya"

"Trust me Cole, it's serious business, be at the Stanton Bridge by noon", Moya hung up, Cole sat at the edge of the building, pretty confused and hopeful that things don't spiral out of control.

Cole jumped off the building and went back to his Apartment, Derpy immediately greeted him, "You're back!"

Cole nodded, "Like I said, wasn't gonna take to long"

"What did the Feds want?" Zeke asked.

"Just asking me about Derpy, Moya wants to see her"

Zeke gasped, "Moya? What does she want with Derpy?"

"I'm not sure, I don't really trust her though, I'm gonna be there to make sure nothing funny happens, otherwise there will be hell to pay"

"Figured as such", Zeke went through some food and realized, "Damn, forgot to get the bagels, be back later Cole", Zeke left the apartment, Cole rubbed his head, "I need to lay down a moment, realize what I'm getting into"

Cole went to his room to lay down, Derpy followed him, she was worried and curious, "Cole?"

Cole sat on the bed, "Yeah Derpy?"

"What's going on? Why were you so concerned about this Moya person? What do they want with me?"

Cole shrugged, "Not sure...probably nothing good though"

"They're not gonna take me away, right?"

Cole shook his head, "I won't let them"

Derpy sat next to him, Cole pulled her close to him, earning a blush from her.

"Cole...do you love me? Like I love you?"

Cole sighed, "I want to say yes, but I'm afraid to, you mean so much to me, no one's made me this happy since Trish...what would Trish say if she knew about this?"

Derpy shrugged and simply hugged Cole closer, "I hope you can love me, maybe one day we can get married, find a nice home and have kids"

Cole sighed, "How though? You need to go home and I need to stay here...besides how can we have kids, is that even possible?"

Derpy shrugged, "The marriage part I'll figure out, as for the kids...if we can't have them biologically, we can adopt...though I do wanna try it the old fashioned way"

Cole looked surprised, "That might be a first for me, I've never been with a pony...not sure if it can even work"

Derpy shot a sly grin, "We can try now, not to have kids, but for the sake of it...Zeke's not here"

Cole was speechless, he could swear she's joking but the look in her eyes says otherwise, "I'm actually curious now"

Derpy kissed Cole a bit, then broke it, "Then lets satisfy"

Derpy had taken off everything she needed to from Cole and pulled the covers over them, once he was ready she went for it.

It was such a strange feeling for Derpy, once the pain subsided she felt bliss, she was in heaven.

Cole also felt strange, he was with a pony, a horse, but strangely he didn't care, he ignored the taboo and let Derpy have her fun.

Both were happy Zeke wasn't there, Derpy was a little vocal about her pleasure, her loving moans filled the apartment area.

Cole hugged Derpy close to him as it went on, kissing and caressing her, this wasn't just fulfilling an urge, there was pure meaning behind it.

Derpy continued on until she passed out from exhaustion and went to sleep, Cole simply laid back, keeping the covers over them as they drifted off for a brief slumber.

Cole woke up a bit later and noticed Derpy was cuddled right next to him, Cole simply stroked her mane a bit then got dressed and left the room, Zeke was sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Had fun with Derpy Cole?" Zeke asked.

Cole looked surprised, "Excuse me?"

"I came back here shortly after I left, I forgot my coupon, I heard you two going at it"

Cole groaned, "That wasn't meant to happen"

"I'm sure it wasn't...how did you two end up doing it?"

"I don't know...she was curious and then she...took initiative"

Zeke stifled a laugh, "So she was dominant?"

Cole glared, causing Zeke to back off.

"Don't talk about this to anyone, don't let Derpy know that you know, otherwise she'll be totally pissed"

Zeke put his hands up defensively, "I ain't gonna say a damn thing, but be careful with this Cole...this gets out, who knows what people will think"

Cole sighed, "Honestly, I'm not sure if I even care, so I'm a human, so she's a pony, big deal! I'm not exactly a normal human! So I don't need a normal lover! If I wanna be in a relationship with Derpy then who cares? If I wanna marry her then who the hell is gonna tell me I can't!?" Cole rubbed his head, "Look I'm just gonna go on a patrol, Derpy's still asleep, do NOT bother her, if she wakes up tell her to wait, I won't be too long"

Cole walked outside ready to patrol the city, Zeke sat down, "I know the strangest people"

Later in the day after Cole got home, Derpy greeted him with a hug, "Hello Cole, have a nice patrol?"

Cole nodded, "Yeah..."

Derpy blushed, "So about earlier on..."

Cole placed his hand on her, "Don't worry, I liked it"

Derpy smiled, "Really? You like when we do that stuff?"

Cole nodded, "Yeah, it wasn't so bad"

Derpy smiled wider, "So...do you really like me for real?"

Cole sighed and sat on the couch, Derpy joined him.

"Being my girl is a dangerous thing Derpy, are you sure you want that?"

Derpy nodded, "I really love you Cole!"

Cole sighed, "Yeah, I can tell, it's just..."

Derpy stopped him, "I know you're worried, but I can handle myself, now I know I can't replace Trish, not that I want to, she was special to you and I wish I could get her honest blessing, but I still want this, I really do"

Cole nodded, "Ok...if you're sure...then you can be my girl"

Derpy grinned and hugged Cole, "I love you so much!" she planted a kiss on him, which he returned.

"I love you too Derpy", Cole said, he laid back with Derpy still on him, Derpy so happy right now.

The next day, Cole met the CIA at Stanton Bridge with Derpy.

There were a few fans and several CIA Agents, even a Helicopter flying nearby.

"Wow, that's a big helicopter"

One agent approached them, "Hand over the Pegasus"

Cole looked suspicious, "I'm going with her"

The agent nodded, "Right"

Derpy looked concerned, Cole patted her a little to reassure her and they followed the guy.

He escorted them to the helicopter, not knowing a sniper on the top of the bridge was aiming a rifle at Cole's head.

"Die conduit", he fired the bullet and it went in 'slow motion', but as if sensing it, Cole managed to move out the way and quickly hit the sniper with a presicion shot, knocking him off the bridge, then blasting all the other CIA agents.

A few of them grabbed their guns and tried shooting Cole, but he blocked with his field and blasted a few of them, Derpy attacked the others and both ran from the sight.

There weren't too many there, Cole destroyed all the vehicles and the helicopter with his Mega Watt Hammers.

They managed to get away with Cole panting, "Knew they couldn't be trusted!"

Derpy looked a bit scared, "What happens now?"

Cole looked to Derpy, "We wait for them to return...then kick their ass"

Derpy nodded and went back to the Apartment with Derpy.

Moya had found out about the failure, she wasn't pleased.

"This isn't over Cole...far from it"

She made plans to return to Empire City, much stronger than before.

* * *

 **Cole's gonna go to war with the CIA.**


	11. Dealing with the CIA

**Sometimes the Government is so corrupt**

* * *

It's been 3 days since the incident with the CIA, Cole has kept a constant lookout, making sure nothing fishy was happening.

Cole always stayed close to Derpy when he could, at home or when they're out together, wanting to make sure no CIA agent tried anything funny.

Cole was especially protective of Derpy once he had officially made her his marefriend, he loved her and was ready to die for her, though Derpy didn't want that obviously, she too had made sure to keep a lookout, not wanting Cole to get hurt.

Each day the two roamed the city, keeping an eye out for any gang activity or crimes in general, plus assisting in the rebuilding of the city.

By night, the two would sleep blissfully in their bed, either cuddled together in love and desire or showing their love to each other, Cole kept a firm grip on Derpy, not ever letting her go.

Zeke at first thought the idea of their relationship was weird, but once he looked past the fact that Derpy was a pony...it was still a little weird, she was so perky and he was a bit serious, though Derpy can mature up once in a while, and Zeke knows Cole has a little bit of a wise guy attitude to him, besides maybe it's a nice case of opposites attract.

The CIA was just about ready to make a move, they weren't too happy about what Cole had done, and they still want Derpy.

On a nice day, Cole and Derpy had just finished some more rebuilding, the city was getting back to it's old self, thanks to the hard work of the citizens and the assistance from Cole & Derpy.

"You think when they're done with the city they'll name a street after us?" Derpy asked.

"Who knows, though there's already a crap load of posters with us", Cole said.

Derpy looked around, "You got a point there"

While walking around the city, they encountered a group of Reapers terrorizing people around Archer Square.

"Oh what a surprise, Reapers causing trouble, come on Derpy, let's kick some ass", Cole said and rushed in to attack.

"Right behind you!" Derpy said, flying in as well.

Cole ran in and blasted the Reapers, using mainly his generic blasts while Derpy flew in and did several strikes to The Reapers.

The Reapers fired at Cole, though they were unsuccessful in connecting a shot since he managed to roll out the way or use his electric shield and blast them, one Reaper he actually used some melee attacks and knocked him into a right hoof from Derpy.

A few Reapers tried shooting Derpy but she simply flew around to avoid the bullets and kicked them in the face.

Eventually the Reapers were defeated, the people praised the efforts of Cole and Derpy. Cole did a quick wave, though Derpy looked a little more enthusiastic.

The two were out in the open for the CIA to spot however, and some agents made sure to follow Cole & Derpy closely.

Though once they got close to the home, Cole felt an uneasy presence, Derpy turned around, "What's wrong?"

Cole looked unsure, "We got company"

Derpy turned around to look for anything suspicious, then she caught something, "Sniper!"

Cole turned and once a gunshot went off, he put up his shield and used his precision shot to take out the sniper. The rest of the CIA agents arrived and opened fire against Cole, but he put up a barrier and blasted the agents, then ran for cover behind some trees and fire from there.

Derpy flew in to punch the CIA agents, one tried grabbing Derpy but she kicked his gut and then turned around and hit him with a strong forearm and then kicked the side of his head, "Jerk!"

One agent whacked Derpy from behind with his gun, only to be blasted by Cole, then he blasted the rest and used his Arc Restraint to keep them pinned to the ground.

A few other agents came, so Cole used his triple shot blast against them, and send some Mega Watt hammers at them to take them down. Things got worse when some trucks arrived with Gatling Guns and fired at Cole, who put up a force field.

Derpy got up after being hit, and saw the situation with Cole, so she flew over and kicked the guy in the head, then drew the attention of the others. Cole then used his Lightning Strike to destroy the trucks and take out the gunners.

"Bunch of bastards! Who else thinks they can handle me!?"

Soon more trucks arrived, this time Derpy grabbed a cloud and zapped Lightning at the trucks, destroying them instantly, then used the cloud to refill Cole's energy.

Cole ran in to take on all the other CIA agents, along with Derpy. The two raised hell, attacking everything in sight and destroying everything they see, showing they're not something to be trifled with, though it all stopped when one woman showed herself.

"Cole! Enough!"

Cole stopped to look, "Moya..."

Derpy looked at the lady, she looked like she meant business, especially based on her fancy suit.

"Cole...it's been a while", Moya said as she approached the cautious Cole, who was ready to strike her down if he needed to.

"What do you want Moya? If it's Derpy then forget it, I'm not giving her up!"

Moya sighed, "You still think this is about you, but it's not Cole, this is bigger than you", she pointed to Derpy, "She is a rare occurrence, a creature from another world, proof that there are some things out there even we don't understand", she approached him more, "Cole...we can learn so much from her"

"You want to learn from her then give her a little interview, otherwise she stays here, like I said, there's no way in hell I would ever give Derpy up, she means too much to me"

Derpy approached Cole and glared at the lady, "I'm not leaving Cole, I don't feel safe when I'm not around him"

"Why are you here anyway? Who sent you?" Moya asked.

"An evil King banished me here, that's all"

Moya looked concerned, "This evil King, suppose he comes to this world, we'd all be in danger"

"I'm sure the ponies in my world can help, including The Princesses, and maybe Cole can help if she wants to"

Cole grinned, "Oh I want to, I have no problems approaching this evil King of yours and giving him an ass kicking"

Moya had a scowl on her face, "Regardless Cole, there are other things we can learn from her, see how exactly she differs from us"

"She's a horse with wings, that's all you need to know", Cole stated.

"She's a Greek Myth Cole, that's not exactly normal"

"I'm not a myth, I'm real, see!" Derpy said, that earned a chuckle from Cole, then he turned serious again, "My answer is no, now if you don't leave, you're gonna end up like your CIA friends"

Moya glared, "You're making a huge mistake Cole", she whipped out a radio, "I give the word, and a whole new invasion starts, stronger than the last, I am not passing up this opportunity, last chance"

Cole glared a moment, he started to wonder something.

 _Hm, Moya really seems to mean business, I love Derpy, but if Moya starts an Invasion, it could destroy the city we worked so hard to rebuild, is it worth that? Kessler warned me about this, how my personal feelings can get in the way with doing the right thing. But what is the right thing? Send Derpy away so she can be a prisoner of The Government? Suppose they become interested in taking over Equestria, I could be condemning her whole country, that's definitely not something I want on my shoulders. Unfortunately I don't know how much Moya even trusts me since the last time I offered to join her they tried to kill me, maybe I can give that another shot, keep Derpy and the city safe._

"Moya, I told you days ago I would be willing to let you talk with Derpy if I joined, I don't know why you tried to have me killed, maybe because I backed out of a deal after YOU lied to me, but my point stands, I am not letting her go alone"

Moya rubbed her head, "Cole, why do you even wanna go with her? This pony is clearly special to you considering the fact taht you're gambling the safety of this city"

"I'm not gambling anything, I am simply trying to do what's best for everyone, I promised this pony I would watch over her when she got exiled here, I intend to keep it"

Moya just glared a moment, "You're really determined to protect this pony..."

Cole watched her, hoping she wouldn't make any call she was gonna regret, though it looked like she was considering something. "Cole, how far would you go to keep this pony and this city safe?"

Cole simply glared in confusion, "Whatever it takes, this city is my home, and this pony is a close friend of mine, I will fight anything and anyone to keep her safe"

Derpy had a blush on her face, it warmed her heart that Cole loved her that much. Moya however still maintained an unsure look on her face, then put the radio down, "Cole, I'm going to give you one more chance, I have an assignment for you, if you accept it and succeed, we will not take this pony from you, however our government would still like some info from her, if you do this task for me, then I promise that you can accompany her and watch over here, and you won't be long"

Cole glared a moment, to make sure she wasn't pulling anything, then nodded, "If you keep your word, then I'll keep mine, but if anything happens to her-"

"It won't, I know you might have a hard time trusting me but we're both in the same boat in that regard, all you have to do is one thing for me, then she stays with you"

Cole nodded, "Whatever keeps her safe, and this city safe, that's all I care about"

Moya nodded, "Good, I will contact you soon", she looked around at the battlefield, "Looks like you avoided killing my men for the most part, I can let this battle slide since you acted in self-defense, hopefully it won't come to this again"

Cole huffed, "It better not"

Moya then left and spoke into her radio, "Stand down, I got what we need"

As she left Cole made his way back home, Derpy followed him, "Do you really trust her?"

"Not too much, but I need to keep you safe"

Derpy went in front of Cole, "I want you to be careful though, I don't want you risking too much to save me"

"Derpy, when I made you my marefriend, that means you have cemented yourself at the top of my priorities, I love you and I will die for you if I need to"

Derpy wiped a tear from her eye and kissed Cole, "I love you too"

Cole nodded, "Let's head inside, looks like we have something to get ready for"

Cole and Derpy entered the apartment and rested up, Cole laid on the couch and Derpy laid on his chest.

Zeke entered a bit later, "Hey Cole, everything alright? I heard gunfire before!"

"Everything's fine, I just cut a deal with Moya"

"What? Moya? After everything that's happened before? Can you even trust her!?"

"Not sure, about to find out"

Zeke looked unsure, "Hope you know what you're doing brother, these Feds ain't something to mess around with"

Cole nodded, "I'm aware, I got this"

Zeke then left to make himself a snack, Cole sat back, rubbing Derpy's mane, wondering what's next.

 _The choice was easy, keep Derpy safe and keep this city safe, how much can I trust Moya? Looks like I'll find out sooner than later, for now, Derpy's gonna be safe. Still, I hope the CIA doesn't try anything stupid with whatever info Derpy gves them, though from the sounds of things, she's just a regular townsfolk there, probably not too much info she can give that would jeopardize her fellow ponies. Man...what a day, it never ends. But it's worth it to protect what you fight for_.

* * *

 **Hopefully for Cole, things go well.**


	12. Mission Time

**Cashing in on the favor**

* * *

One week later, it was just about time for Cole to handle what he needed to handle with Moya. Before he went on the mission, he needed to take care of one important task, so he and Derpy took a boat to another known location for Cole.

"So we're heading to a place called New Marais?" Derpy asked.

"Yeah, won't take too long, I stayed at New Marais for a bit not too long ago", Cole responded.

Derpy nodded and kept a smile on her face, she was somewhat eager to see a new city in this world, she liked Empire City but she wondered what New Marais had to offer.

They arrived in New Marias after a short trip, Derpy stayed close to Cole, this was a new city so some people probably wouldn't take too kindly to her at first.

Some of the civilians were a little surprised to see Derpy, but they recognized Cole, they knew he was rebuilding Empire City and heard rumors of a Pegasus, they figured she was the Pegasus in question. Derpy simply waved at the civilians, very nervously though, but several waved back, either not minding her presence or fear of Cole's wrath.

"Where are we going Cole?" Derpy asked.

"To get some supplies from an ally of mine, these supplies enchance my power and it'll make whatever task Moya assigned me with that much easier to do"

Derpy nodded, "That's cool, are there any conduits here?"

"Yeah, I know two Conduits that came from here, a girl named Kuo, she has ice powers, and a girl named Nix, she has fire powers"

"Ice and Fire? Wow that's cool"

"Yeah, it was here I discovered I can even borrow their powers, I managed to borrow Kuo's powers so I was able to use ice"

"That's neat, are you hear to get the ice powers or..."

"I'm here to grab some ores that enhance my power, won't take to long"

They went the hideout that Cole & Zeke stayed at when they were last there, Cole looked around a bit, "I had a secret stash around here just in case I needed one, where is it?"

Derpy looked around, the city was so much different than Empire City, she then heard some jazz music being played nearby, a man playing a saxophone and found herself bobbing her head to the music, "Wow, is that a concert or something?"

Cole shook his head, "No, sometimes people just play on the streets, especially when they feel happy"

Derpy smiled, "That's so nice, it's like home, we all love singing when we're happy", she turned to Cole, "Let's sing a song now", Derpy cleared her throat.

 _'Winter Wrap up, Winter Wrap up!_

 _Let's Finish our holiday cheer'_

Cole groaned, "Derpy I really don't wanna sing"

Derpy then looked sad from hearing that, Cole pitied her so he sang a little.

 _'Winter Wrap up, Winter wrap up!_

 _Cause Tomorrow Spring is here'_

Derpy grinned and started singing again.

 _'Winter Wrap Up, winter wrap up!_

Both took turns singing before singing the final part together.

 _'Cause Tomorrow Spring is here!_

 _Cause tomorrow spring is here..._

 _Cause tomorrow spring is here!'_

Derpy started giggling, soon Cole also giggled, at the very least he made Derpy happy, that's all that mattered to him, then he eventually found the Purple Ores, "Good, let's go"

They made their way back to the boat, Cole had a small chat with Kuo, she had gave him a few extra supplies and wished him luck on his mission with Moya.

Derpy approached her and chatted with her, Kuo thought she was cute and ruffled her mane and gave her a small hug. Derpy noticed she was pretty cold but she didn't mind, a hug's a hug.

The two went on their way back to Empire City. "Hey I didn't get to meet your other friend"

"Probably for the better", Cole said. Nix would not have been a good influence on Derpy.

They got back to Empire City within a few days. Seems like a long trip but they did a fine job keeping each other company, Cole loves spending as much time with Derpy as he could, especially in a non-stressful situation.

Cole went back to his Apartment and set up his stuff, he had all the purple crystals, ready for a big fight soon. Derpy laid on her bed, "Kinda missed this bed, the one on the boat felt too hard"

"You held up just fine the first month here when we slept on a pad"

Derpy nodded, "Yeah, I guess...but once you get something nice, it's hard to just go back to anything less"

Cole nodded, "Yeah, that's how I feel with you, you're the best thing to happen to me lately, I hope we can be together always"

Derpy blushed, "You're so sweet", she then kissed Cole and hugged him, "I love you Cole, you think when this is all over we can get married?"

"Might be a little soon to talk about that...though between you and me, I think you'd make a great wife"

Derpy grinned and kissed Cole more, "And you'd make a great husband"

Cole nodded, then put on a serious face, "I probably shouldn't be saying this...even if we survive this upcoming battle, you still need to go home...dammit, this might sound selfish, but I wish you didn't have to go back"

"I don't have to go back Cole...I'll stay with you"

Cole groaned, "You can't, you have friends and family that will miss you"

"Cole...I will miss them too, but I don't have any specific duty back home, I'm just a mailmare, I can do that here, I love you, I want to have a family with you, I mean I know Dinky will miss me...and Golden Harvest...and Doctor Hooves...but I need you in my life...unless I can get them to come here, wait I won't be able to get Dinky, her sister won't allow it, maybe Doc & Golden Harvest, no they probably don't want to uproot and come here, too much to ask for...now I don't know what to do"

Cole rubbed her face, "You do what your heart tells you, it might hurt some people but sometimes that's life, it's my life, the choices I make can really shape things for better or worse, hell loving you was a choice in itself, I knew the risks, but I also knew I loved you so I'm ready to take those risks"

Derpy nodded and nuzzled against Cole, Cole rubbed her back a bit and started kissing her again before planting her down and getting under the covers.

Soon some clothes were tossed aside, leaving the room to be filled with the sounds of love and Derpy's moans. For the time being Cole would cherish Derpy, even if it wouldn't last long, he would enjoy things while the were, but he would also do what he could to always be with her.

"I love you Derpy"

"I love you too Cole"

Soon came the day where Cole, Derpy & Moya would talk business. They near Stanton Bridge where Moya's helicopter landed. Cole boarded it with Derpy and it went into the air while they talked.

"So Moya, what's the plan?"

"I'll cut to the chase, it involves your old girlfriend Sasha"

Derpy shuddered, "I hate that girl, she's so weird and creepy"

"Indeed, apparently she restarted development of The Ray Sphere, she's speeding development by stealing powers from various conduits"

"So it's true...not just talk"

Moya nodded, "Sounds like word has gotten around, your mission is to find Sasha and eliminate her before she activates this new Ray Sphere, the damage it can do would be astronomical"

Cole looked concerned, "What do you want me to do with the Ray Sphere once I deal with Sasha?"

Moya knew what he was getting at, "We're gonna lock it away to prevent it's technology from getting out, hopefully it would never be used"

Cole didn't look fully convinced, "You sure about this Moya? That thing should be destroyed"

"it won't work, you tried it once and obviously it didn't fix anything, we try it my way now"

Cole sighed, "Whatever, just don't hurt anyone, especially Derpy"

Derpy nodded and hugged Cole, "And don't you dare hurt Cole!"

Moya looked a little surprised at what she was seeing, "You two are pretty close"

"Very...now give me some more details, where is Sasha? How do we find her?"

"Our sources saw her going into Alden's Tower, there is nothing at the top, so we believe she might elsewhere.

Cole nodded, "Ok then, take us there"

Moya had the pilot take Cole & Derpy to the tower area, "Good luck, and be careful"

"Sure thing", Cole said almost unconvinced like. "We got this!" Derpy said a bit more enthusiastically.

Moya flew off, leaving Cole and Derpy to deal with things here. They entered the park area and found something surprising; Reapers, Transients and First Sons standing side by side.

"Holy shit, did Sasha bring these gangs together?"

Derpy looked surprised, "This is bad, right Cole?"

Cole nodded, "We got this though, come on"

The two went in there, Cole had energy charging through his hand, "Alright, which one of you rat bastards wants some!?"

The gangs then noticed Cole and opened fire on him, he blasted them all, taking out every Reaper, Transient and First Son in sight. The more they opened fire, the more he blasted them, using a combination of regular strikes, the triple shot, Mega Watt Hammers & Shock Grenades.

Derpy flew up and kicked some clouds, making lightning come out and striking the gangs, "Take that you rat bastards!"

Cole chuckled at that and kept blasting. Soon more gangs started coming, a few got hit with some precision shots.

Trouble came when some of the First Son robots and Transient crabs arrived. Cole kept his distance and blasted the Crabs back with his shockwave. Derpy flew at the robots and punched then, taking them down.

Some robots tossed grenades but Cole managed to deflect those away while Derpy kicked then to the ground, "Ha! Take that!"

All of a sudden, a Transient Golem formed and started to approach Cole, "Aw crap"

The Golem shot garbage bullets at Cole but he rolled out the way and used his Shield to block the bullets and blasted the robot from a distance.

Derpy used her clouds to zap the Golem, causing it to shoot a garbage fireball at Derpy. Cole took advantage of the distraction and tossed some shock grenades to blow it's arms off, leaving it's chest open for Cole to fire some Mega Watt Hammers in the chest.

The creature stumbled a bit while it was blasted by Cole & Derpy, Cole finished it off with a Flash grenade to the center.

Cole smirked, "Punk ass"

To make matters worse, a First Son Conduit arrived and enlarged self and tried to stomp on Cole, but he evaded and shot the center of the Conduit, where the host was, though these things are hard to take down sometimes.

Derpy shot some lightning at the center, knocking the conduit back, then Cole fired some Mega Watt Hammers. The Conduit stumbled but kept fighting and slammed down at the two but between Derpy's lighting and Cole's blasting, the conduit was eventually defeated and the host fell.

Cole approached it and used his arc restraint to quickly keep it down.

"We're awesome!" Derpy boasted.

Once more gangs came, Cole got an idea, "Time to try this out", he grabbed a purple crystal and used his Ionic Vortex, creating a large electric tornado that dealt with the gangs, sucking them in and tossing them away.

Derpy looked awed by that, "Wow, that would come in handy for Tornado Day"

Cole was also awed, "I miss that sight, but I have to be careful, don't have too many of these, well time to take out the rest of these chumps"

Only a few gangs remained but they were taken out by Cole very quickly, once the area was cleared they looked around, no sign of Sasha.

"Wonder where the whacked out bimbo is?" Cole asked. After searching Derpy pointed to a tunnel, "Over there!"

Cole noticed, "Must be where she's hiding, makes sense, the tower is a good enough diversion, not many would notice a tunnel, great work Derpy"

Derpy giggled, "Thanks"

Both approached the entrance, Cole used his electricity to shed a little light, then he turned to Derpy.

"This is it, our chance to take down Sasha, you ready?"

Derpy nodded, "You better believe I'm ready"

Cole nodded and went in with Derpy, they can almost hear Sasha's evil laugh.

The fight with Sasha approaches.

* * *

 **Big Battle coming, Cole & Derpy must deal with Sasha.**


	13. Conflict at an End

**Now to find Sasha**

* * *

Cole and Derpy walked through the tunnels en route to finding Sasha. Cole was ready to finally put an end to this madness against Sasha, as was Derpy.

The tunnel was pretty long and a bit dark, though as Cole went down he found some light from various Light Bulbs. Derpy kept an eye out, just in case a gang member popped out of nowhere to shoot either of them.

Cole kept close to Derpy, he was extra concerned about her and very fearful of her getting hurt during this mission.

As they got further down, a few gang members popped out from behind some cover and fired at the duo, causing them to duck and cover.

Cole blasted the gang members with his regular shots.

More gang members started coming, so Cole & Derpy hid behind some cover while Cole fired at them. The enemies themselves hid behind some cover and fired at Cole.

Derpy observed their patterns, seeing when they pop up and go down, and noting how long it takes each time. Cole had taken a few down, others still hiding, that's when Derpy started maneuvering around, sneaking by the cover.

Cole noticed her and while he was worried, he had trust that she can handle it and continued attacking the enemies, this time to give her cover.

Once Derpy got far enough, she snuck up on the enemies and attacked them from behind. She managed to take 2 out, but two others noticed and shot at her, though she hid behind the unconscious bodies on the enemies she knocked out, using them as shields while Cole blasted the other enemies.

Cole approached Derpy, "Great work there"

Derpy smiled, "Thanks", she looked down the tunnel and heard some running, "More are coming"

Several gang members ran up to them, but Cole tossed a few shock grenades as make shift mines, once they arrived several explosions happened, taking out the enemies, the ones that were still conscious were immediately attacked by Cole & Derpy.

"Let's keep going", Cole said and went with Derpy further down the tunnel.

They continued walking down the tunnel and approached a large area that had tar and a bridge to cross over it.

"What's with all this yucky tar?" Derpy asked.

"Reapers use that to turn people into on of them", Cole explained, weirding Derpy out a bit, "I hope that doesn't happen to me"

"Don't worry", Cole said, "I won't let that happen"

Derpy smiled and followed Cole across the tar area. Suddenly some more gang members came to attack. Cole grew frustrated, "Seriously, how many more!?" he zapped them and knocked them into the tar, then zapped the tar to electrocute them.

More gang members arrived, a bunch of them were incoming. Cole was losing his patience and simply did another Ionic Vortex to get rid of them, "Dumbasses".

They continued on until they approached an area in the middle of the par pools, they encountered the Ray Sphere and several conduits of the 3 gangs tied up and their energy being drained into the Ray Sphere.

"Damn…I almost feel sorry for them", Cole admitted.

Among them, Derpy spotted someone, "Hey Cole, isn't that the evil guy with the psychic powers?" Cole looked to see that Alden was among them, "So that's how she got a hold of the Transients, I wonder how she got The First Sons?"

They heard Sasha's laugh nearby so they looked around cautiously. "I borrowed the First Sons for my gain; I'll do a lot better with them than Kessler ever will". Sasha arrived in the area, walking sinisterly and seductively.

Cole charged up his electricity, "So I suppose you want my powers now huh?"

Sasha started to circle Cole, "Don't worry, I won't take your powers from you, under the condition that you finally realize your love and affection for me, and join me, we can rule Empire City together, then maybe expand our empire to other places, not only in this world, but that Pegasus's world, it's a grand scheme, all I need is you by my side", she then rubbed Cole's chin, "What do you say?"

Derpy got in Sasha's face afterwards, "Back off! He's my man!"

Sasha growled and whacked Derpy away, "Out of my sight!"

"Derpy!" he went to check on her, she was fine though. He angrily turned to Sasha, "Big mistake hurting my mare like that, I'm gonna make you pay"

Sasha chuckled evilly, "So she has stolen your heart, no matter, I shall wipe her from this world, then I'll finally have you all to myself"

Cole got in her face, "I swear I'll kill you!"

Sasha approached them, "You'll have to deal with my army to do that", she extended her arms and some extra Conduits arrived.

"Make sure you kill that Pegasus", Sasha ordered.

The Reaper Conduits went in to shoot but Cole jumped to the side and blasted them, Derpy flew in and punched a few of them. Cole tossed a few Shock Grenades to take them out.

Next up was the Transient conduits, the one that summoned the crabs and armed with the Rocket Launcher.

They fired some rockets at Cole, but he used his shockwave to knock the rockets back and take out the Conduits and destroy some crabs. Some Cole used his Mega Watt Hammer against, knocking them all over the place.

Derpy grabbed a Rocket Launcher and used it to whack them in the head and grabbed a gun to shoot the crabs, she actually enjoyed that, "Wow, this is fun, holster's a big heard though but still!" she shot at them.

Finally came the First Son Conduits, the ones that can grow big and the ones that are invisible. Cole used his senses to find the Invisible one and blasted them in the heads to take them out quickly. Derpy attacked the ones whose invisibility cloaks failed with strikes and punches.

One shot at her with a shotgun but she evaded and fired the gun she had at it to take it down, "Wow, this gun's coming in handy so far"

"Hey take it easy there Derpy, that thing's dangerous!" Cole warned. Derpy nodded, "Dorn't worry, I got it!" she fired at the other conduits, even the big one, but she got kicked back and quickly balanced herself so that she wouldn't fall in the tar.

Cole blasted the inner conduit and managed to take it down. "Taking these things out becomes tiring after while, not just exhaustion, just constantly having to do it"

Soon enough the Conduits were defeated, Cole took a breath, as did Derpy. "Ok Derpy, we just need to stop Sasha"

Derpy saluted, "Right!" she aimed the gun around, "Ok Sasha, come out with your hands up!" Cole sighed, "Derpy, this isn't a game, don't fool around, I don't want you to get hurt"

Derpy grinned, "I got me a gun Cole, ain't no one gonna-", she then got whacked back with some tar; she lost her gun in the porcess. Before Cole could react, Sasha leapt at him and tried to attack but he punched her away. He zapped at her but she retreated back into the tar.

Derpy looked around all confused, and then Sasha appeared behind her and kicked her back. Derpy got up and angrily glared at Sasha, "I'm not gonna give up Cole, I love him! You don't love him, you're just obsessed, there's a reason he left you even before you became the monster you are, from the sounds of it, you were always a real, Bitch!"

Sasha stomped down hard on her chest, "How dare you address me like that you little-", Cole then blasted her back and started zapping her, but Sasha hit Cole with a few projectiles and used the tar to weaken his powers.

"Cole, I only do this because I love you, and soon I will make things up to you, in so many ways…" she looked at him seductively, this enraged Derpy and flew in to attack, "Stay the hell away from my man!"

Sasha knocked her back but Cole blasted Sasha a few times, using his Mega Watt Hammers to deal extra damage.

Derpy then flew in and did a few punches to her and kicked her back. The two then continued to attack Sasha with various strikes, Cole using electricity to enhance his attacks.

Cole grabbed his amp and whacked her a bit and rammed her for some extra damage and hit an uppercut.

Sasha sent some more tar at them, but they maneuvered out of the way and then attacked her again and together they did a hard strike to her chest. They each then removed the tar valves on her body and drained her power and life energy.

She swung at them and tried to finish them off, but their teamwork was overwhelming, Cole kneed her and zapped her a bit more before punching her down and removing the valve points from her body, draining her energy.

Sasha panted a bit, "How…how could you Cole? We are meant for each other!"

Cole charged up his energy, "I don't think so…" they both hit one final blow to Sasha, knocking her into the machine with the Ray Sphere, causing it to start beeping erratically. Cole & Derpy quickly grabbed the Ray Sphere and left the area as Sasha struggled to get up.

"Cole…come back! We're meant for each other…Cole! I love you! COOOOOOLE!" soon enough the explosion happened, engulfing everyone around, except for Cole & Derpy, they managed to escape in time and ran out the tunnel just as the explosion left the tunnel, fire popping out as the two hit the ground.

Cole & Derpy looked back and sighed heavily.

"We did it!" Derpy said and hugged Cole. He returned it and held on to the Ray Sphere, "Well I'll be damned, you proved yourself to be a very capable partner Derpy"

Derpy blushed, "A bit more than that, right?"

Cole nodded, "Right". Derpy nuzzled against Cole, and they went to the pickup point as he called Moya, "Moya, it's Cole, we got the Ray Sphere".

They waited for the Helicopter, looking back at the area whey were just at, feels like a huge weight off their shoulders.

For now, the battle is over.

* * *

 **Final Battle has ended, Final Chapter is coming.**


	14. Affects of Karma

**Time for Cole & Derpy to finish things up**

* * *

Cole & Derpy waited at the Rendezvous point for Moya, Cole had the Ray Sphere in his hand, ready to just be rid of it and move on with his life.

Derpy seemed a bit unsure about this, "Hey Cole, do you really think this is a good idea? Do you trust this lady?"

Cole also had that same feeling, it could be evident by the lack of certainty in his eyes, "Not sure, but for now we'll just have to see what happens, I'd like to think this is a good thing, but by now I know better, so we'll have to be on guard"

Derpy nodded and watched as Moya's Helicopter descended down to them. They both boarded the Helicopter as it flew up.

"Here's the Ray Sphere, just as our deal stated", Cole said and presented the Ray Sphere. Moya took the Ray Sphere and analyzed it, "Very good, you've done well Cole"

"Yeah, yeah, just remember the deal, you get one last bit of info from Derpy, under MY supervision, then you leave us alone and we can live our lives together in piece", Cole had a dead serious look as he said that.

Moya nodded, "Sure thing, we're heading over to a base now, once we get the info from the Pegasus, such as where she's from and how she got here, and should things go well with that, then you two can live in this city in peace"

Cole nodded, "Good". The Helicopter then took them to a CIA base off in a northern region.

Upon arrival there, Cole sat with everyone while they asked Derpy a few questions about Equestria. All she explained was that it had other ponies like Pegusai, Unicorns and Earth Ponies, she explained the cutie marks, she talked about other races like dragons, griffons and changlings, and she discussed a bit about The Four Princesses and King Sombra.

That's all the info she could really share based on her knowledge, as promised she and Cole were free to go. Moya had assisted their return to Empire City. "See you around Cole"

Cole glared, "I better not, remember, you don't come bothering me and Derpy"

Moya nodded, "I take it you have something special with her, it's not just a friendship is it?"

Cole just glared, "Don't worry about it, just go do what you need to do".

Moya nodded once again and had her helicopter fly her back to the CIA HQ.

Cole went back home with Derpy, Zeke was waiting there with some popcorn and waved to them, "Hey, done with the CIA? Did they probe her brain?"

Derpy glared, "You're not funny Zeke!" Zeke put his hands up defensively, "Hey easy there, don't go all loco on me now".

Cole sighed, "Must you annoy her Zeke? She's not a push over", Cole stated. "Hell I know that, it's just fun sometimes, especially when she makes that funny looking scrunchy face".

Derpy looked angry but inevitably made the angry scrunchy face, Cole looked a bit concerned, "Why don't you just go grab us a pizza? You can pick the toppings".

Zeke did an 'Oh Yeah' gesture, "Oh hell yeah! I'm on it!" he left the apartment, leaving Derpy still in a bit of a bad mood, "He's so annoying sometimes".

Cole nodded, "Yeah but he's my friend, sometimes your friends can be a bit annoying, but they mean well".

Derpy sighed, "I guess, I've soemtimes been the annoying friend, and I hear that even The Elements have their annoying friends, ironically one of the annyoing friends is the one that's nice to me, that one being Pinkie Pie".

"She sounds pretty nice, your friends and the other ponies just misunderstand you, I promise that soon things will get better for you Derpy", Cole assured. Derpy nodded, "I just wanna be with you for the time being".

Cole gave her a nice kiss, "You will be, I do love you, and that won't change anytime soon Derpy".

Derpy nuzzled against Cole, "I love you too Cole, you're the greatest thing to happen in my life".

Cole then grinned a bit, "Besides, your scrunchy face is actually cute, even when you're not angry".

Derpy giggled, "You're so sweet Cole".

Meanwhile at the CIA, Moya is checking on the Ray Sphere, fascinated by it's power, "What wonders does this thing hold?"

She checked it out a little, it wasn't as strong as expected, probably because it didn't have as much power, but Moya hoped to get some good use out of it.

"With a weapon like this, we can finally end several wars, wonder what it's like to have that power though?"

She pondered that thought for a bit, to be a conduit like Cole, the idea seemed tempting, but was it a good idea? Even she knows to mess with a power like that could have dire consequences. But perhaps the risk is worth it? What is her Karmic choice?

A few days later, Cole is jumping across a few rooftops with Derpy, the city was shaping up pretty nicely, a lot of small homes have already been rebuilt. Derpy was enjoying her life in Empire City, though still missed her home in Ponyville, she wondered how long before she would be able to get back home. But as long as she's with Cole, she'll be fine.

As they went across the rooftops, Cole found something weird on a rooftop, a crystal that was glowing green.

"Huh? What's that thing there?" Cole wondered. Derpy looked a bit confused herself but was afraid, the crystal seemed so familiar to her, and not in a good way.

He looked at it carefully, Derpy approached it, "It looks like something from my world, but it seems so-", she touched it and her eyes glowed green with some purple aura coming from her eyes.

"Derpy? What's wrong?" he approached her and then she started to cry and scream, much to Cole's concern, "Derpy, what's wrong!?"

Derpy looked really scared and freaked out, so Cole touched the crystal as well and saw what she was seeing. It was Equestria, in ruins, ponies enslaved, houses on fire, destruction everywhere, it was chaos, and not the Discord chaos, destrction chaos, several cities in Equestria looked like Empire City after The Beast arrived. It was a horrible sight for both of them, especially Derpy.

Then an image of Sombra appeared before them, "Terrible, isn't it? Don't worry mailmare, you won't live very long to endure this anyway, as for you electric man, you have stepped into a battle you can't hope to win".

Cole growled, "You must be King Sombra, once I get my hands on you, I'm gonna make you regret what you did to those ponies!"

Sombra chuckled evilly, "I doubt that, your time is at an end, an end for both of you".

The Crystal then evaporated, the images gone with Derpy still in tears and Cole a little freaked out.

"Holy shit, that guy's a real bastard" Cole said. Derpy was in tears, that was so scary, but Cole brought her in for a hug, "Don't worry, I'm here for you, I will protect you and save your home, that I swear".

Derpy nodded, "Ok Cole". The two continued their rooftop run, a lot going through Cole's mind.

 _So that's King Sombra, scary looking dude, especially considering he's a pony, I guess not all ponies are cute, hell I'd say he looks scarier than Kessler. No matter, for the sake of Derpy and her friends, I must find a way to Equestria, I am going to take down that bastard Sombra and I am going to help liberate her world. Derpy has done so much for me in this world, helping her take her world back is the least I could do, besides, I could use the challenge._

The battle in Empire City was over for now, but the all out war has barely begun.

* * *

 **Cole's Karma is at a good high for his selflessness, he made the right calls to ensure the safety of Derpy & those he protects. How will he handle someone like Sombra though? He certainly won't do it alone.**


End file.
